


EXO of the Multiverse

by kyungsus



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Gen, MAMA Era Powers (EXO), Multiple Universes, Multiverse, Science Fiction, Space Opera, alternative universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-16
Updated: 2021-01-20
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:20:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 23
Words: 53,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23688325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kyungsus/pseuds/kyungsus
Summary: « No matter which Earth you are from, EXO is forever bound to be one. They are destined to fight together, side by side. At the end, they will always be together, no matter how long it takes. »The Red Force has one goal now: To destroy EXO, Earth's guardians and vanish the whole multiverse from existence. To stop them, Kai will embark on a journey where he will try to gather each EXO member from each Earth. Which includes a neon colored retake on his reality, a madly stereotypical depiction of their lives, one where they are actual celebrities and several more. Will Kai be successful on gathering up his team or will he lose against the Red Force?
Relationships: Byun Baekhyun & Everyone, Byun Baekhyun & Park Chanyeol, Do Kyungsoo | D.O & Everyone, Do Kyungsoo | D.O & Park Chanyeol, Kim Jongdae | Chen & Everyone, Kim Jongin | Kai & Everyone, Kim Jongin | Kai & Kim Junmyeon | Suho, Kim Junmyeon | Suho & Everyone, Kim Minseok | Xiumin & Everyone, Kim Minseok | Xiumin & Oh Sehun, Kim Minseok | Xiumin & Zhang Yi Xing | Lay, Oh Sehun & Everyone, Oh Sehun & Zhang Yi Xing | Lay, Park Chanyeol & Everyone, Zhang Yi Xing | Lay & Everyone
Comments: 44
Kudos: 57





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Türkçe available: [EXO of the Multiverse](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24734140) by [kyungsus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kyungsus/pseuds/kyungsus)



Once upon a time, the Earth met with nine aliens, sent from the Exoplanet. Those heroes, blessed with powers that were considered supernatural to humans, swore to protect the Earth from the evil Red Force until their last breath. The nine guardians were called EXO; they were noble, keepers of the peace and more importantly, they were their own friends. They had each other's backs; on the brightest days they celebrated their victories together and on the darkest nights they mourned for every life lost.

Long after, it became clear to their leader Suho, that there were noticeable changes in Red Force's attacks. They were getting harsher, more violent and relentless with their ways. The city in bright lights gradually began to darken each passing day and EXO had to witness a few more losses in their own team. Their numbers shortened to 6, Kai did his best to console his younger brother Sehun, even while he himself was bearing that sorrow inside his heart after Xiumin and D.O. were both gone, following one of the oldest members, Lay…

It was still crystal clear, how it hurt to bury a friend. But the next day he was going to have to keep his chin up to protect the Earth once again, and to honor his friends who gave their life for their cause.

In a more fortunate side of things, their leader had come up with the idea to begin to transfer the people to different parts of the system, anywhere that was more safe than the Earth. This was the least they could do against continuous attacks by the Red Force. But Kai had no idea that these were just the beginning of a chain of unfortunate events; he was still unbeknownst of the upcoming issue at that cursed day.

"Kai! Listen to me very closely!"

Those were the first words he heard after waking up to the  _ bang _ of a huge explosion, judging from the noise it caused it was happening nearby. Suho, crouching next to Kai's thin mattress on the floor, was looking at him with desperate eyes. Had the Red Force already spotted their hideout?! Seeing how serious this was, Kai sat up on his bed.

"The Red Force... They've attacked here at last."

Kai threw his blanket off. "Then what are we still doing here? Let's haste!"

"We can't do that." Suho's hand stopped Kai's wrist. "I was able to catch one of the droids they've sent here to kill us – did my best at tinkering it. Inspected its memory core as much as I could and... Kai, there's no escape from them this time."

"Suho, we always— that's what we always did!" Kai protested. "We retreat, then regroup and annihilate them even stronger!"

"Not this time. Their plan sounds...  _ insane _ . But with their innovative high technology, I think what they're trying to achieve might not be impossible." Suho looked right through his gaze. "They're planning on destroying EXO. Not only on this Earth, but on all universes."

"What are you talking about?!" Kai looked puzzled. Ignoring him, Suho forcefully opened Kai's tightened fist and placed some kind of device inside. Almost a perfect square, only slightly longer vertically, this device was surroundered with a few buttons on the bottom.

"This wayfinder is using that memory core of that droid I've mentioned. I've worked on this thing for just a couple of minutes, so I can only hope it works... You just have to think of finding someone. Combined with your abilities, it must work." As Kai stared at him with curious eyes, he went to explain: "You have to track the others down, my friend. Bring them -  _ us _ , together again." Suho hugged Kai, closing his eyes, taking in this young brother's warmth for maybe the last time. As the ground started to shake beneath their feet, Suho held his hand and pulled both of them out of the tumbled down building. Kai stopped his tracks to run along with Suho, however, he pushed away his hand on his wrist. Suddenly, a droid with a Red Force logo printed on it appeared on their way, turning its head to attack Kai who seemed more vulnerable at that moment as he was distracted. Suho created a water bomb to throw on it to cause it to short circuit. "Go away! You need to survive!"

"Come with me! This place is done for and you know it!" Kai shouted at him, gesturing at him to join.

"You also know that our planet now is a vast land! We might have a chance to shorten their numbers if we..." Suho turned his head around to check if there were any more enemies nearby.

Kai crossed his eyebrows. "Where are the others?" He hadn't seen any of the members since he was forcefully woken up by his leader.

Suho didn't say a word at first; he stood there as his chest rose and went down with each hasty breath. "Chen and Baekhyun… They were already gone before I could help them. Their ships... They were attacked by the Red Force it seems, forced to crash on the next planet." Kai saw Suho's eyebrow twitch with anger suppressed deep inside. "But I had to witness Sehun and Chanyeol lose their fight against the RF soldiers. However, they succeeded in helping the transferring ship escape." He turned to Kai again. "That's why I have to stay here to make sure at least you leave here safely. That's why you need to put your emotions separate from your judgment and do as I say!" Kai's knees felt weaker with this information. He hadn't yet recovered from the loss of his three brothers, and now he had to take in four more?

Kai tried to understand what Suho was trying to accomplish. If there were truly only Suho and him left on this Earth; once they both leave, the planet would become unstable, leaving no chance for them to remain alive, since the planet needed at least one of the guardians present at all times. "I can use myself as a bait to prevent them from tracking you down," said Suho. Kai felt his tears on the corner of his eyes. So, this is what real desperation felt like... The point of no return. Without letting his tears flow, he nodded at Suho, accepting his last order; and his leader nodded in return. "I'll be counting on you, Kai. You were a great soldier… and the perfect friend."

And like that, Suho turned his back to fight the droid that just appeared on the corner. Kai's fist tightened around the device, this time determined to make it work. He didn't think of where to go, he simply ran and ran, visualizing the closest friend he ever had, the friend he had to leave behind; Suho. He started to concentrate on his power of teleportation and the device's screen lightened up, showing some kind of a sign - similar to an arrow and just like that, Kai was gone.

Watching him disappear, Suho threw away his blast gun on the ground. The time had finally arrived. He stopped his water attacks from flowing, turning them all dry. As the droids surrounded him, he kneeled down and accepted the shot he received from one of them. When his blood leaked onto the ground, the last thing he felt was the planet starting to shake from its core, making a smile appear on his lips before he accepted his death.

He had succeeded. The ground began to crumble into itself, taking in that huge deploy that had landed on here to evade the planet. The collapse destroyed it before Red Force's deploy could go to the next planet on this system.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> quick disclaimer: i use the word "brother" as a counterpart for the korean word "hyung" bc on this Earth they don't have nationalities. none of them are related whatsoever


	2. First Stop, A Very Neon... Dream?

Kai's feet landed on some asphalt-like ground, though he first had had to take a few steps to balance himself. The teleportation was successful. Since everything went so quickly, he looked around to make sure he was alone and no one had noticed him on this planet. Walking behind a wrecked wall, he crouched to hide his figure.

The device... it told him to go here. It was what had shown him the way. He didn't know if there was more to this device but so far, it seemed like it had worked. He was on some place else, a planet he had never seen before. He curiously breathed in the air. It reminded of how their city smelled like before it started to get occupied by the Red Force. That was... so long ago now.

Kai's legs started to grow weaker once again as he realized that he was the one who left Suho there, all alone by himself. The others were already done for, before he could even have a chance to save them. He imagined how it must have felt to die, to have no hopes of saving oneself. How horrible it must have felt to be Suho, to watch them be gone. He didn't know which one was hurting his soul more.

This time he cried without holding back. He let his tears flow for a while.

_ "Bring us together again." _

Suho's order echoed inside his mind. His last order... He had to make sure he completed this mission successfully no matter what. This wasn't the time to mourn. He picked up the device from the ground and began to read the screen carefully. He had wished for...  _ Suho _ . His leader. The one person who always knew what exactly to do, would help Kai right now in so many ways. He wiped his eyes as he stood up slowly.

Since he still wasn't sure how he was supposed to efficiently use this device and how he was supposed to bring back the team together, it was time he started to explore the area. What got his attention first was that the skies were dyed in an extraordinary very deep purple color; everywhere he looked was really bright, vivid and there were these huge neon statues placed around, differentiating in shapes. Soon enough, a laser blast sound had reached his ears and he immediately went to the nearest spot he could find to hide. Had he been spotted already? But the blast wasn't directed at him. Before he could take a breather, several more followed that one blast. Behind where he was hiding, the half of a wall that had collapsed onto the ground, he tried to get closer to the sound, raising his head to see what exactly was going on.

There was a smaller guy walking on all fours on the ground, while a huge robot was busy destroying the place a few meters away from him. Kai narrowed his eyes; what was that man trying to do? The man noticed that huge, white colored cable placed in front of him, and after a few seconds he connected it with a random plug, making himself fly in the air then to dig into the ground. All of these happened in one minute alone.

Before Kai could think what the hell he just had witnessed, he had heard another blast shot, but this time it sounded really close! He followed the trail of the smoke to see where it was coming out from, and it was from the blaster of...  _ Sehun _ ? What was he doing here?!

Then he remembered what Suho had told him. This should have been impossible. Did this device somehow take Kai to an earlier time? Was time travel even possible?

He was just several meters away from him so it was rather easy to inspect his face: His black hair parted on two sides showcasing his forehead and his fierce eyebrows.

Yeah, it was really Sehun himself.

But he also was the same guy who had just opened fire accidentally, at... D.O. who was crouching on the next wall! Sehun was even apologizing for making such mistake, but D.O.'s attention was fixated on to find out if they were spotted already or not. " _ Impossible _ ," Kai mouthed. Sehun was the best shooter out of all of them! How could he make such a beginner's mistake?

Another black haired man on the other side took Kai's attention soon; his figure was really similar to Suho's. " _ Could it be...? _ " He thought.

Kai was practically crouching behind the end of the wall right now. There was another one right in front of him, the one that man was standing in front of. Kai rolled on the floor quickly to pass the space between the two walls, and got behind it with no problem.

He saw him searching an item in particular between a mess of... glasses? " _ They're all the same, _ " Kai mumbled in anger. The man finally managed to pick one of them when Kai was approaching him. Before the younger could say anything though, he noticed the man's eyes were pointing behind him. Kai turned around to see the giant robot was standing in front of them. Upon even only seeing how big it was, the man suddenly fainted. He was going to fall on the ground until Kai held him in his arms, preventing the accident. Kai's eyes turned to the man he was cradling, and his face definitely was of Suho's. And this time, unlike Sehun, he seemed more familiar: His hair was styled up, with a single strand falling on his forehead. His transparent, safety glasses were slightly bigger for his smaller face.

The robot extended its squid-like arm forth. At that exact moment, the two were shadowed by someone else standing up behind them. Paired with a laser rifle in his hands, that same somebody confidently took a shot at the robot. Kai raised his head to see who this hero could be, but he was appalled with what he had seen.

The man who took the shot bore the same face as Kai himself (but with a very different haircut)! How could this be? Did Suho's device cause illusions, or was this person he was seeing simply a reflection of himself from another time? But he was sure he never wore trendy clothes like this - they didn't seem very effective in defense to be fair! And these visions couldn't be from the future either, since anyone else was still...  _ alive _ .

Something inside the robot made clicking sounds, preventing him to delve on this matter any further - probably his twin right here was sharing his concern, since his stare never waveref away from that giant robot. " _ Those can't be good, _ " Kai thought. There was no other choice but to teleport himself somewhere safe, accompanied by Suho and this...  _ döppelganger _ ? When he turned his eyes to the man, he was met with his gaze - which turned into the same surprised face Kai had had a minute ago. Sensing his appalled state, Kai took the initiative: "Teleport yourself somewhere safe quickly! The robot is going to attack right now!"

Fortunately, the man didn't waste any time. He nodded and vanished. Kai too teleported himself and Suho somewhere far before the robot dispersed its flames from that same squid-like arm in their previous direction.

He could still hear the giant robot's each movement creating creaking sounds from its joints even though they were very far away from it. He shook Suho's body to wake him up. His eyes slowly opened up, he tried to sit up as Kai assisted him. After taking a few breaths, he spoke up: "Thanks for getting me out of there, Kai. I got nervous again it seems."

Nervous? In the middle of the fight? Suho always kept his cool during battles though... He must have been really stressed this time, Kai guessed. "Do you feel alright now?"

Suho nodded while rubbing his neck. "Just don't tell Baekhyun about this, alright?"

_ Weird _ ... Definitely weird. "Why would you want to hide this from Baekhyun?!"

Suho looked at him like he had just been asked something unnecessary. "Since he's the leader, I don't want him to worry too much."

Baekhyun? He sure was composed and adaptable to any situation coming his way, however even he expressed many times that Suho was the most capable of leading their team. "You don't seem okay at all, do you even hear what you are saying? You, Suho,  _ you _ are the leader!"

The man looking at him laughed nervously. "You are the one who's not making sense! How can I lead a team when I am like this?" He looked at him once again but this time properly. "You are also wearing weird clothes." Kai was wearing a black coat over a collared, long sleeved beige top, however, they both seemed really worn out, they were covered in dust and some parts of his pants even looked like they survived several burns.

"Well, excuse me for wearing clothing appropriate for battle, and..." He gestured at Suho's clothing choices - a navy colored coat covering his white shirt and baggy dark trousers. "...not for the fashion week." Kai sighed, squeezing his nose bridge between his thumb and index finger. Where did that device even take him to? Was he dreaming or something? Or... "This must be an alternative universe."

Suho looked confused. "What did you say?"

"An alternative universe where you all look like high-end fashion models, with excessive make-up on too for some reason!" Kai shouted. He had come here with hopes of finding his mentor, a comrade to fight alongside; but what he got was the complete opposite: a nerve-wreck of a " _ soldier _ ". Also, why did everything on this Earth look wanky except his team members? The area seemed completely abandoned by people too, what was their business here? He also could swear he just watched a white kitten pass by, in the middle of a fight!

Suho's eyes widened up, and his feet fiddled on Kai's arms eagerly. "You are from another universe?!" He raised his fists in the air with excitement. "I knew it was possible!"

"Well, Suho from my Earth must have thought the same." He pulled out the tracking device. "I used this to travel between Earths."

"May I?" He asked for permission to examine, Kai nodded since he didn't feel any possible harm from this individual. He seemed really to have his head in the clouds for the most part, so much for wishing to meet the Suho he knew... After a few seconds, he gave it back. "It seems to have been designed to work when combined with your teleportation powers."

Kai nodded. "That's what he had told me as well... He was really—"

"Smart." Suho finished his sentence with a smile. "I can see that. So where's he? You knew of Baekhyun too. I'm assuming you guys are a part of a team, like us."

"We are no more..." Kai's face turned to the ground in shame. "I lost all of them. Including Suho. He sacrificed himself to make sure I survived." His lips started to shiver. "He didn't have to do that. He could have... escaped with me. But he..." He breathed in. "He chose to do the right thing, as always."

Suho seemed to regret his question, so he tried to change the subject. "Do you know why he wanted you to travel between Earths though?"

The younger guy's chin raised up. "He wanted me to gather all my team members together, one from each Earth, I assume." He pointed at the screen of the device. "As you can see, it shows only one sign here. Must be..."

"Me." Suho sighed.

"I... I want you to understand something. The Red Force... They're, they've gone insane. They want to obliterate each Earth, one by one. I don't know how they're planning on doing that but... They already started from my Earth. And if I don't stop them, they'll go on to the next one, slowly but steadily destroying all Earths, including yours." Kai squeezed his own lips. "Please. I know I can't do this alone. Let me complete my last mission granted by my leader. Join me."

"As you can see..." Suho pointed around them. Kai watched as the others continued their fight vigorously. "I'm not making much of a difference in here right now. I am only useful when it doesn't matter. Do you really think I could be of any help to you?"

Kai looked at him straight in the eye with determination. "Look, you know that you are not the Suho I know. But still, you must understand that you share some of his personality, and of course, his power to create and manipulate water. Even though your teammates might not tell it to your face directly, I am sure you are a valued member. They wouldn't have you with them if you were truly useless as you claim to be."

Suho looked at the device's blinking screen, showing his power's sign, pointing at his position on the map. "I think..." He said softly. "I think this could be the mission of my life. The one mission I have to complete, without letting my fear interfere this time." He turned his face to Kai. "If you believe there will be times where I have to overcome this nervousness, I accept your offer. Maybe when I return, I'll show the boys what I'm truly capable of."

As a smile crept upon Suho's lips, Kai found it very similar to his own brother's sincere one. And he responded back with a grin as they connected their palms in a thumb clasp handshake.


	3. Roundabout

"You're Kai, but not the Kai I know." Suho once again repeated the same sentence he had been saying like a mantra for a while now. "This is so strange!"

"Imagine how I must be feeling right now," Kai said while rolling his eyes, clicking some buttons on the device, searching for any more possible information - which he couldn't find of course. At least he was sure of Suho's -  _ his Earth's _ Suho's plan for him now: To gather the members from different Earths and create EXO once again.

He thought of the next person he should search for. Since the first person he looked for didn't turn out to be exactly what he had wished for, he thought of the second person in charge of their team, his brother Lay! He'd help him a lot in a situation such as this, speaking the conscience and giving him lots of advice. Though, there was always the possibility of him too turning out to be like this Earth's Suho... "I'll try to find Lay this time."

Suho's face lightened up. "That would be great! He went for a mission on the planet 1563 - um, another planet in our solar system, just a couple of days ago - we could have really used his help right now. Xiumin seems to be fried up badly..."

Kai turned to him with a stern look on his face. "We're not taking him here, we're going to go find him." Hearing this, Suho immediately nodded and escaped his gaze. It felt weird to scold his older brother but he reminded himself that this wasn't the friend he knew, he was someone else completely different. "Sorry... I didn't mean to..."

The man gave him a bitter smile alone. "It's okay, I'm kinda used to it."

"No, I shouldn't have snapped like that." He helped him get up with an apologetic look on his face. "Hold on to me, alright?" Suho's hand gripped Kai's black coat as Kai proceeded forward and teleported once he turned on the device.  _ Let me find Lay. _

When they landed on the ground, they accidentally hit their faces onto some girls' backs. Just when the two girls were going to turn to them with fury, someone ahead of them started screaming out of their lungs, making them completely forget the accident and instead join in on their screaming. Suho covered his ears and shouted at Kai: "Is this some sort of a cult and they shout as a practice of their beliefs?"

Kai tried to look around, and realized something. "Suho, somehow, you blend in well with this crowd..." His stylish clothes didn't alienate him from the crowd of these people. Most of them were girls, some of them had big cameras in their hands, but all of them looked like they were waiting for something, most of them were complaining of having sore feet already but they seemed somewhat happy. "Wait here, I'll try to find out what all this is about." He tried to push through and get into the front line, but it was as if these young people were made of stone, none of them moved even an inch. "Alright... I'll just..."

He teleported himself on the top of the building and tried to see what was going on. It seemed like this crowd were formed on both sides of a secured linear area, starting from the entrance of the building, and ending towards a big, black van. A guy accompanied a muscular man - probably a bodyguard? - was leaving the building with slow steps, he waved his hands towards both sides of the crowd, and in return the crowd cheered for him. "Don't tell me..."

This time he teleported inside the building, a bit far away from the door to avoid unnecessary attention. Just as he expected, the one who was just done with waving his hand was one of his teammates, to be more specific, it was Chanyeol. He was wearing a big, fluffy looking purple jacket with black pants that tightened around his legs.  _ Fashionable clothes again, _ Kai thought. Following him, Baekhyun and a person with similar height left the building - he couldn't make out who it was as his face was covered with a mask and a cap. But the crowd seemed to be familiar with him since they started shouting his name in hopes of getting some attention from him: "Kyungsoo-yah! Kyungsoo-yah!"

He knew that these people were not his friends, they were complete strangers yet he couldn't help feeling a sting hit his heart. Being this close to them was something he wasn't going to experience back at...  _ nowhere _ , his Earth must have been turned into debris already.  _ Nothing's going to come out of reminiscing the past, _ Kai repeated to himself as he shook his head.

Pulling him out of his thoughts, the one person who Kai was waiting for all this time finally appeared on the stairs and was walking towards the main gate; so Kai immediately approached him, holding his wrist to stop him. "Lay, you need to come with me."

The man's face turned into relief as he saw who it was that gripped him so forcefully. "Oh, what is it Jongin-ah?"

Kai twitched.  _ Jongin-ah _ ? That was his name on this Earth? Just as he was going to explain what was going on, someone else behind him called out for Lay: "Hyung, who are you talking to?" Lay turned his head to answer him but he saw Jongin looking at him from afar. Crossing his eyebrows, he turned back to see who he was talking to just a second ago, however there seemed to be no one standing next to him. "You look confused, is everything fine?"

Lay scratched his head and let out a single laughter. "I must be tired from yesterday's concert. I thought you called me over here."

Jongin put his hand over Lay's shoulder after he patted his back softly. This hyung never took care of his sleeping schedule. "How many times do we have to remind you that your health is the priority, hyung?" As they slowly left the building, Jongin looked behind one last time to check if there really was someone there.

Kai teleported behind Suho who was still with the crowd and pulled him from behind over the corner. Suho's transparent glasses reflected the sunlight. "Did you learn anything?" He asked excitedly.

Kai nodded. "I know it's going to sound crazy but..."

"We're celebrities, right?" Suho asked, and he continued after Kai confirmed it: "We seem to be...singers, ' _ idols _ ' to be exact. I heard the girls scream out some of our names, but... Some of them were different. I've heard them call out someone named  _ Jongdae _ , or whatever. Maybe we do have different teammates on this Earth?"

Kai shook his head. "That's not the case... I found Lay - I was going to explain to him everything until someone interrupted us." He tried to remember what Lay called that guy as. "He referred to him as...  _ Jongin _ . But, strangely, he had the same face as me."

"That can't be it," Suho declined. "While those two were leaving, I heard them shout your name - they said Kai clearly." He then clicked his index finger. "Stage names!"

Kai rested his back on the stone wall of the building. "Now that we have that  _ big _ issue out of the way..." He checked the device to locate where Lay was headed to, totally unaware of the small crowd forming around them. Suho pulled on his sleeve, then pointed at the girls staring at them intensely. "What is it?" He asked calmly when the girls started patting each other's shoulders, pinching themselves, saying something along the lines of " _ I must be imagining _ ", " _ there's no way this is real _ ".

One of the girls stepped forward. Realizing the upcoming danger, Kai grabbed Suho's hand and they began to rush away from the crowd following them. "Why are they chasing us?! Are they crazy? Did we do something?"

"We share the same faces, the same features with their beloved idols." Suho fixed his glasses like he was some anime character. "There was a reason why the crowd was held up against the barrier." He continued between his panting: "Can't you just... teleport us... somewhere else?!"

This place... He wasn't sure if their powers were known among the people or not. "I think you forgot that we are literally in plain sight," Kai replied, holding the device close to him. "We first have to lose them!"

Suho turned his head back to see if they had a chance or not. "Why are these girls so good at running?!"

Kai pointed his index finger towards his face. "You're good at something too! Use it!"

"I can't create a flood in the middle of the street!"

Kai sighed. "There must be something, Suho!"

It was as if a light bulb turned on inside Suho's mind. "Kai!" He shouted; when the younger guy turned to him, he continued: "Watch me!" And with a grin he watched as small droplets of water began to hit the ground behind their steps. After a few seconds, the soft drizzle turned into a harsh raining session following the crowd alone. As the girls' steps had to slow down a bit, Kai held onto his hand and pulled them both to a side street. They watched as the girls tried to obtain their sights by holding their hand up to prevent water drops from hitting their eyes. "Where did they go?!" A girl shouted desperately.

Suho whispered as much desperately as her: "Quick, Kai! Just get us out of here!"

The device's screen looked back at Kai's stare. "Alright, alright," he replied, pushing away Suho's fiddling fingers. "Just calm down!" He tried to concentrate to teleport near Lay as much as possible, but it was hard to accomplish that with a person this stressed standing next to him.

They practically landed on their butts this time, hitting the cold floor made both of them let out a distressed groan. To top it all, a door opened as the two of them tried to remain still behind the kitchen counter. Slow steps followed their trails soon enough though, and they met with a familiar face.

"D.O.!" Kai said unwillingly. If he didn't know this was another Earth, he could have really thought it was the D.O. he knew back at home... He looked exactly the same here, unlike how he looked on Suho's Earth. He had a buzz cut on top of that same indifferent expression, he didn't have any makeup on too.

Hearing his stage name instead of his usual name - how this younger brother of his always called him, Kyungsoo looked confused, and decided to poke fun at it: "Kai, Suho-hyung." As Suho heard him, he raised his chin with surprise. "What are you two doing on the floor?"

Kai let out a long sigh as he realized someone else was about to walk in, could this situation get any worse than this? "Kyungja~! Why are you taking soooooo long?" A man similar in height approached him leisurely.

Suho was taken aback. "Baekhyun?!" His leader was wearing loose clothes, a very wide, short sleeved white t-shirt with grey sweatpants under it. An orange colored drink was in his hands. He looked too... comfortable! It felt so weird to see his leader like this, after witnessing him with his military outfit all that time.

Kai whispered to Suho who was pretty dismayed: "Now you understand how weird it is!"

"Oh, Junmyeon-ie-hyung!" Baekhyun replied with a grin as he noticed him, then pointed at his clothes. "Why are you wearing those, though? Hehehe, are you missing the time we promoted  _ Power _ or what?" He sipped from his glass after he managed to stop laughing.

Some rustling sounds came from the room Baekhyun just walked out from. "Junmyeon-hyung is on this floor? Why?" Someone else shouted, it sounded similar to Chen's voice to Kai's ears, although it was a bit more cheerful.

Kai hit Suho's elbow with his, since he didn't seem to catch on that his name on this Earth was Junmyeon. Suho turned to Kai by reflex, then to the three people expecting some answers. "Um..." Kai could feel his stress easily next to him, but he decided not to interfere. "We were short on some food."

"Yes. Milk." Kai continued. "Breakfast." He tried to remember how he liked his breakfast back when he could afford that luxury. They usually had their first meal very early in the morning to not waste time on food too much during the day, and they always tried to keep them very nutritious, as Lay always insisted them to eat everything properly. Yet... During those final days, Kai realized he completely started to skip it.  _ Think, think. _ .. "Cereal..." He hoped they had the same thing on this Earth as well.

Kyungsoo raised an eyebrow as he walked and opened the cupboard on the wall, and pulled out a box of cereal. Baekhyun took the milk carton out of the fridge and handed it to them. "Why were you crouching in front of the sink like that though?"

Suho closed his eyes. "I thought you'd think we were burglars..."

"I would of course, if you try to hide from me." Kyungsoo replied. "By the way, you really did a bad job at it."

They stood up slowly, holding onto the items they obtained. "Um, have you seen Lay?" Suho tried to ask.

Kyungsoo raised his eyebrow again. "Did he leave your floor? At this hour?"

Kai tried to change the subject. "He probably was in the bathroom when you looked for him, Jun..." He tried to mock the way Baekhyun called him a few minutes ago. "J-Junmyeon-ie."

"Woah, woah!" Baekhyun seemed to crack up at that moment, laughing very loudly, hitting Kai's arm several times. "Aren't you too close? Dropping to informal now? Woah! Hahaha!"

Kyungsoo sighed. "We were gonna watch a movie. I guess, you can watch with us when you're done with your... evening cereal meal?" He looked at Suho, expecting an answer. "...Hyung?" Kai realized that was the part he forgot to say out loud while addressing Suho.

The guy inside the other room laughed: "He probably stuffed the cereal box somewhere in his room and couldn't find it, hah!"

Kai used this as an opportunity to leave as soon as possible. "Well,  _ Kyungsoo-hyung," _ he interrupted, kind of feeling weird calling D.O. like that. "We should probably go and fix up some of that mess he made." He started to push Suho out before closing the door after them.

Suho let out a big breath. "That was a ride." Kai agreed, and held Suho's hand before teleporting them to wherever Lay was. Inside the room they just appeared in; there were several musical instruments, coupled with a computer –a laptop standing on a table near the electric keyboard. It seemed like Lay was writing something when they teleported inside the room.

He looked at them for a second before turning back to look at his notebook again. "Oh, Jongin-ah, Junmyeon-ah, I didn't hear you come in." He put down his pencil and straightened on his chair. He was going to say something else but seeing they were holding a box of cereal and milk in their hands, he completely forgot about it. "What's with the food? You know how Chanyeol-ie complains when he sees food crumbs inside the studio." Then he realized their clothes. "Are you two cosplaying?"

Suho was going to drop the food on the floor until he saw a package of chips under the table. "Well then, he should stop eating these around the keyboard..."

"Lay, you trust me, don't you?" Kai jumped straight into the subject. They did not have any more time to lose. When he saw him nod without a pause, he continued. "You actually have... superpowers."

"Yeah, that's kinda our thing, isn't it?" He replied nonchalantly, making Kai and Suho really happy. So they were aware of them too on this Earth! Maybe that's one of the reasons why they were so popular on this Earth. Singers with superpowers didn't sound so bad! "I can heal, you can teleport, and he can control water."

"Then, when I tell you that we are actually from different Earths, you'll understand, right?" Both Kai and Suho were looking at him with their wide stares with excitement yet Lay stepped back a bit. "We need you Lay."

He narrowed his eyes with suspicion. "Am I asleep right now?" He pinched his own forearm and winced at the pain.

Kai rolled his eyes before he pulled him up by holding his wrist. "Go check each of their rooms, and see what they're up to."

Suho jumped at the conversation, understanding what his younger companion was trying to prove. "You know, there can't be two of the same people present at the same time according to known physics laws!"

Although skeptical, Lay still went along with it to prove himself that this could be a dream. He knocked on Junmyeon's door and entered after he told him to come in. Junmyeon was scrolling on his phone, laying on his bed. "What happened?" He asked without looking at him.

His eyes turned at Suho he just saw inside the studio room - he was still there, and Junmyeon was on his bed. He approached him, crouched next to his bed and touched his face. "You are real, right?"

Junmyeon laughed. "I must seem surreal, I am aware."

Lay was cringing - but also chuckling - as he closed the door and silently went back to the small studio room. He closed the door securely, and turned back to them. "How could this even happen? Were you two practising the art of illusion while I was gone?" Without further ado, Kai held Lay's hand and teleported him to his hometown in China. Lay's eyes widened as he read the street sign written with Chinese characters but before he could even react, Kai teleported them back to the studio. "What just happened?!"

"You were correct when you stated that I had the power of teleportation. And I just performed it, will you truly believe me now?"

"I... I do but..." Lay slowly sat back on his chair. "I feel like I've gone crazy."

"You'll be alright, when you too use your powers granted to you." Suho opened the window to pick up a leaf fallen on the window sill. He placed it between Lay's fingers. "You can start by turning this leaf green again."

"You must be joking," Lay tried to put it back in Suho's hand. "You guys might be some type of magicians, but I am just a human. All that superpower façade is just... Well, a façade."

Kai put his hand over his shoulder. "Lay... I mean it when I say that I really need your help." His eyes turned to the floor with desperation. With Suho, he already knew how to use his superpowers. But with Lay? He wasn't even aware he had one! "Do you know about the Red Force?"

Lay put his thumb over his chin, thinking deeply. "Well, he's like the main enemy of EXO."  _ EXO _ , something Kai missed being called... "We fought against them in some of our music videos. What about them?"

"In both our Earths," he started while pointing at both himself and Suho. "They are a real threat. A threat to humanity, to all kinds of lifeforms." Kai was strolling around the small room. "They... They finally decided to destroy my whole universe. After that, they are going to destroy yours, maybe even before they destroy his." He pointed at Suho at the last part of his sentence. "My point is, you have to use that power of yours and join us to fight against the Red Force."

Lay snorted, rolling above his chair. "I said I am just a human. I can't possibly fight against some kind of super evil force, if that really exists."

"You're not just some human, Lay. You are a part of EXO. On my Earth, we fought alongside against them. Lay on my Earth was my most reliable friend." He stared at his eyes. "Before meeting you on this Earth, we stumbled upon some crowd... They were formed for you, to see you guys. You... inspire them. Even though you really are just a human, you are still valuable to those people. That's what he, Lay on my Earth would have said."

Lay blinked a few times without saying anything, then he grabbed his notebook and wrote something. "Wow, what you just said... Really moving stuff!" He grinned, showing off his dimple. He grabbed the leaf. "I'll try my best. What should I do?"

"You have to let out the energy flowing inside you, and transfer it to the object you're holding." Suho explained. "Closing your eyes, and emptying your mind would be a help for your first time."

The guy sitting on the chair followed his instructions, tried to concentrate as much as possible.


	4. Zhang Yixing the Human

The guy sitting on the chair followed Suho's instructions, tried to concentrate as much as possible. He waited for a minute and more until he peeked to see if anything out of the ordinary happened or not, he became disappointed to see the same dry leaf between his fingers. "See? I don't have superpowers, guys."

Suho looked at Kai to ask what they were going to do about this. Kai was sure that whom the device took him to was this person... then why did it really seem like he had no supernatural abilities?

Seeing both of their shoulders droop, Lay felt like he was responsible for this disappointing occasion. "You two... You were hungry, right? I'll treat you to a meal." He thought of the best way he could make up for his failure.

Suho's eyes lightened up with the words  _ 'treat' _ and  _ 'meal' _ . "Really?!" He was getting hungry after all that adrenaline rush they had the whole day.

"Of course!" Lay laughed, his smile emphasizing his dimple. "Believe me, it's going to taste so much better than cereal." He got up from his seat. "I'll change my clothes, um..." Lay scanned their outfits once again, this time more carefully.  _ Their clothes would get too much attention from the public – if those faces of theirs wouldn’t _ . "I'll bring you guys something more… appropriate to wear on this Earth. Wait for me here." He gave them a key to lock the door behind him, so that no one inside the dorm would accidentally meet their alternate self.

As soon as he left the room, Kai turned to Suho. "I'm going to knock him unconscious, I'll teleport back here in a second. Be ready when I come back." He stopped when he felt Suho's fingers curl around his wrist. "What is it?"

When he turned his eyes at his, it was the first time he had seen this Suho that angry. His grim expression reminded of his Earth’s Suho's stern gaze, sending him shivers down his spine. The guy holding him shook his head slowly: "That is not how you make a friend, Kai."

Kai flapped his arm to release himself out of Suho's hold. "I'm not here to make friends. I'm going to take him with me even if he likes it or not." No exceptions; even though it didn’t seem very logical, he had no other places to go to take another Lay since the device took him to  _ this _ Lay, and Kai guessed that it meant they needed  _ him _ .

Suho didn’t seem to agree with him: "For what?! The guy can't even use his superpowers!"

"He'll learn along the way." Kai replied in a careless manner. He was about to leave the room until he felt Suho's hand slap his cheek, leaving a visible red mark. "W-what was that for?!"

"My team fights against the Red Force because we want to protect the innocent ones. We gathered together because we all shared the same cause. Was your team different from mine? Was there anyone being held hostage to be there?! I don't think so!" Suho spat out. "Do you really think this is how  _ he _ 'd wanted you to turn out to be?!"

Kai remained still as he realized what he was thinking of doing. He raised his hands towards his head, covering his face in shame. If Suho had seen him right now... "I... I don't..." His lips twitched with regret, his eyes getting teary. "Suho, I'm sorry."

Suho's lips turned into a straight line and his heart finally stopped beating so erratically. "It's okay. You still have a chance to do the right thing." He raised Kai's face, and smiled at him as he brushed his hand over his cheek where the redness was still visible. "I am sorry for this too."

Kai's hands held Suho's over his face and intertwined their fingers. "I deserved that." He was holding onto him after…so long, realizing only then just how much he had been missing someone else’s moral support and guidance, someone to show him the right way.

Suddenly, someone knocked on the door and whispered next: "Guys, it's me, Lay." Suho realized they completely forgot to lock the door, as Lay simply opened the door before smiling at them, raising his hand in the air, holding a bag. "I brought your stuff!"

They closed the door again when Lay got a call.

"Oh, Chanyeol-ah, what's going on?" He asked with a cheerful tone. "Ah, I forgot to inform you beforehand. I invited some friends over..." He waited a few seconds to listen to the person on the line, while making sure that the door was locked this time. "To help me with the song... No, no, it's okay. We were just gonna leave anyway." He gestured to Kai and Suho to quickly wear the clothes he brought them. "I think you'll get bored, Chanyeol-ah. They're quiet... No, not like Kyungsoo. They're even quieter than him... They don't speak Korean." Lay shook his head as a reflex. "No, they don't know English either... Oh, I just heard one of them mention he doesn't like that wine brand. Yeah, can you believe it!?" Seeing Suho making signs that they were done, Lay tried to end the call. "Ah, Chanyeol-ah, I need to go. Be sure to sleep early, okay? Yeah, alright. Yes. Okay, I'll introduce them to you next time. Okay. Bye."

Lay let out a huge breath he was holding in. Kai wanted to console Lay, he patted his back: "So he's as talkative on this Earth too..."

"I like him like that," Lay replied with a smile, bearing a small taste of tiredness though. Kai could totally understand him; his brother Chanyeol sure was always so energetic, and it was kind of hard to keep up with him most of the time. "Let's go."

After having to experience two challenging encounters on this Earth, their route to the restaurant felt the smoothest, probably thanks to the black oriented outfits their new acquaintance chose for them which simply blended them well with the dark of the night. Lay ordered them his favorite meal at the shop - a traditional dish originating from this country him and his members lived in,  _ “the Republic of Korea”. _ Kai learned that Lay's hometown that he teleported him to, was a whole different country called  _ “People's Republic of China”. _ He explained to them how their Earth worked, main problems they were experiencing and just about their daily life as an EXO member. He laughed a lot when Suho told him about how they had to flee from a bunch of girls chasing them a while ago, before he apologized in their stead.

"Jongin-ah, would you like some more soju?" Lay asked.

Kai shook his head while still munching on his piece. "That's not my name. My name is Kai."

Suho interfered as he was picking some meat between his chopsticks. "Call him Kai please, it makes it easier for the writer and the readers to distinguish the characters." He grinned, extending his glass on his hand. "I'd like some more, if you please."

Lay filled his glass with another laugh, he was glad that they seemed to enjoy their meal. "Then, Kai, I'm curious... What kind of a person am I on your Earth?"

Kai’s chopsticks inside the bowl paused for a moment before he took them out and placed them on the table slowly. He sipped from his bottled drink before speaking. "Lay  _ was _ really considerate like you... He always took care of his brothers, made sure we were all healthy and ate well. I always went to him to ask for some advice, and he'd listen to me no matter what the problem I had at that time. Even on that day he..." Kai coughed, and then continued. "On the day we lost him, I remember him insisting on me to keep Suho in check if he took proper care of himself while he would be away; because Suho usually would forget to do so while focusing on leading us... That was what Lay asked me to do, before he left for a battle— a battle he won for us, and not had returned back home." Kai's eyes watered up once again. "And I couldn't even do what he asked me to do. I... I left Suho for dead. I left all of them… What kind of a brother am I if I can't keep any promises I make?!"

Lay's eyes had been turned towards the table, not focused on anything but he seemed to be lost in his thoughts just as Suho who was sitting next to him. He could understand how it must hurt to lose someone so close to you, but having to experience that feeling at such a young age... Without saying a word, he placed his hand over Kai's shoulder and patted it a few times, trying to do his best to give some solace to him.

The guy sitting next to him let his words out instead: "Kai... There is still one promise you can keep." Lay looked at them with curious eyes, but Kai didn't want to explain it to him. Saying that the last thing Suho wanted from Kai was to “gather all EXO members” might have sounded like they were trying to convince Lay to join them by making him pity Kai. That was the last thing he needed. Sensing this, Suho did his best to place himself at the center of attention. "You know, the Lay on my universe... He is a bit different than you..."

They talked through the whole evening until they left while the hour neared midnight. Everything was going just fine, until Suho fell on his face in the middle of the street all of a sudden, while they were on their way back home. Kai got scared, thinking something critical happened to him: "Suho! Are you okay?!"

The body on the ground turned slowly towards them with his hand on the ground, with a stupid smile on his face. "Hehe, yeah."

Lay crouched next to him, holding his arm. "I shouldn't have let him drink this much..." He asked Kai to do the same thing, and they slowly raised Suho. "Sorry about that." They tried to shush Suho who was preaching about his acts of bravery during their missions on his own Earth. A few minutes later, it seemed like their attempts had worked only to find out something worse had happened instead.

"He’s…” Kai turned Suho’s face to his own, and then frowned. “He’s already fallen asleep..."

Lay sighed, but then smiled as the two began to carry Suho. "Seems like you guys will have to sleep in the dorm tonight."

Kai remained silent, no matter how much he didn't want to waste more time, it seemed like he didn't have much choice this time. He felt really tired too, all that adventure took its toll on his body in the end. Besides, it would take some time for Red Force to send their bigger deploy on their Earth... He could only wish for the best.

This evening as they all sat together sharing a meal, it made Kai reminisce about the dinners they had back at home. With smiles on each of his brother's faces, they would talk down their worries, listen to Baekhyun as he would sing out a few folk songs he learned from the people of their city, adore Sehun as he would ask for seconds with every meal... He knew that it probably was not good to think like this but this evening he wanted to let go of this mission completely and just... Just spend more time with his brother Lay. He really wanted to do that, he wanted to be that selfish. But he remembered that if they didn't stop the Red Force soon enough, the Lay standing next to him right now would lose his members too, the Suho he was helping him carry would never have the chance to show his own team that he could be his better self.

Seeing him stare at the ground, Lay asked Kai what was troubling his mind. "Nothing, I was just thinking..." Kai answered, trying to brush off the subject.

"Hmm," Lay didn't pressure him further, as he was expecting this young guy had not yet trusted him completely. It was inevitable since they literally just met this day; had he had a different face than his younger brother at their dorm, it would have helped Lay to not feel this bad about it. "Kai... I was also thinking. I... decided to join you on your journey, that is, if your offer still stands."

Kai turned to him, his gaze still somber but with an upcoming hint of thrill. "Are you really sure?"

"I won't say I am 100% sure," Lay expressed honestly. He didn't know what kind of danger he was getting himself into. These two guys had two unbelievable supernatural abilities, and he was… he was just the  _ human _ Zhang Yixing.

“Lay,” Kai started his sentence, his voice tone turning more serious. “You do realize that none of us can be sure of what sort of destiny we’ll meet next… This journey holds only the unknown, I… I can’t assure your safety.”

“There must be a reason why you two came to find me on this Earth,” Lay answered. “I’ll believe in that reason. One thing I’m sure of is, I don't want anything to happen to my members. If there is a chance that I can prevent that, I'll take it." He met Kai’s stare. "I think you'd understand." The younger guy nodded slowly, turning his head away shyly. Seeing that he was accepted into their newly found team, Lay curled his lips with glee: "We should leave in the morning after we all have a good night's sleep."

Instead of teleporting the three of them to his dorm room, Kai decided that the least thing he could do without it harming them was to just spend a little more them side by side, carrying the sleeping man's body together like that for a while more as the youngest found comfort with their silent company.


	5. Red Casino

It was early in the morning, the two had already eaten those few of Earth's snacks - Yixing brought for them before the other members had even woken up - to fill their empty stomachs as quickly as possible. Kai and Suho changed their attires back to their usual ones; the older one insisted that they might need those coverages at some point during their mission so he packed them inside a small bag he got also from Lay.

"I tried my best to match with you, Kai," Lay said shyly, showing off his sporty but kind of dull coloured outfit. "Is it looking okay?"

Kai couldn't help but laugh at this guy's question he found to be very cute. "If you feel comfortable, that's all it matters." His expression turned more serious when he continued. "We never know what might happen in the next world we visit."

Suho agreed: "The multiverse has infinite possibilities!" He threw the bag on his back with a loud thud.

"Alright, hold on to me," Kai ordered both of them. "Let's go get Chanyeol."

As they teleported; somewhere so, so far away from their dorm, a girl sitting in front of her computer started to tear up with sadness. "No, why just now?!" She pushed her face against her widely opened hands. "So OT9 isn't going to happen this comeback either?!"

In front of her, her computer screen read the news headline:

_ "SM Entertainment announces that Lay won't promote with EXO on their upcoming album —will be having his vacation starting from this week" _

She sobbed. "I can't even get mad at him. This may be the only time he would be resting..."

*****

Lay blinked a few times before fixing his posture. "I am never getting used to this feeling anytime soon," he announced while rubbing his head. As he looked around, he realized that they were inside a huge building, he even had to turn his head really up to see where the ceiling started. The room they were in seemed like it was a spare one, mostly empty; although he could hear loud music, a noisy crowd from somewhere else, probably from another room inside this building. The tall windows were completely useless, as they were covered in dust and barely let in any light inside; but to be fair, it was probably night time right then. He rubbed his neck, walked a few steps to approach the door, trying to look around behind the small gap in between.

It looked like he was correct about his guess, there were so many people inside the building after their door. Most of them crowded the big roulette table, placing their bets as the croupier worked his hands around as quickly as possible. He could also see a cage at the back; between the people standing around, shouting and swearing - lots of them were thrown around, he could spot a cockfight!

He rushed back to where Kai and Suho were standing around. "What the hell is this place? Where are..." His voice trailed off as he turned his head to look where the two were staring at.

There was a woman - her hands were bound together and she was hanging from the high ceiling, her almost transparent silk dress was draping a meter down her feet. "Is she alive?!" Suho asked nervously, not really sure if he wanted to learn the answer.

"Let's hope so." Kai looked around. "Let's find a way to get her—" Hearing some strong steps heading towards their room, he held onto both Suho and Lay, and teleported in the nearest hiding place he could spot so far.

Three pairs of eyes watched as two people walked in and stopped to look at the woman. One of them shouted all of a sudden, scaring the three hiding behind some boxes: "Hey!"

The woman's eyes slowly opened up —Suho let out a breath of relief. She looked at the person who had just shouted at her. "What's going on?"

"Get ready." He walked back near the door, and turned behind one last time before leaving. "You're gonna take him with you to the back entrance 3. Be as quick as possible. We'd like to have the least casualties." After that, he left with his companion, but didn't forget to give the lady an impish smile at the end before he closed the door.

"What is going on here?" Suho whispered to Kai.

Lay was frowning. "I couldn't see those two properly... but I feel like they were..."

"Red Force?" Kai agreed. "Do you think this woman—"

Suddenly, the woman started to complain: "I hate that guy..." She tried to shake the rope surrounding her wrists. "And this thing stings like hell. Can't that guy come here sooner and let me down already?"

While the trio was trying to figure out who this woman was talking about could be, they heard some crashing sounds outside, followed by sirens and boots clanging. "People are leaving, probably rushing outside," Suho whispered nervously. "I guess that guy finally arrived."

Soon enough, the door opened, revealing a long leg – it was kicked open; Suho almost jumped from his spot. A guy with rusty red hair was standing at the sill; looking behind, he talked with someone in a rush: "You try to hold these guys for a while, I'll join you all after I get her down!" The other person left as the guy with red hair dashed forward, climbing the stairs quickly to reach for the rope.

Kai paced forward, shouting at the guy: "Don't! This is a trap!" When the guy turned his head to look at him, he realized the reason why the device told them to go inside this shady looking building was standing in front of them. "Chanyeol?!"

"Kai!?" He bore a face of surprise. "We talked about how you were going to stop them from escaping with that Rolls Royce – what are you doing here? Go back before it gets too late!" Chanyeol shouted while holding the woman, trying to cut the rope at the same time.

He was about to reply to Chanyeol, however he saw a bunch of people wearing defensive armor - probably the RF approaching the room. Instinctively, he teleported back to their hiding spot and then teleported again, but this time holding onto both Lay and Suho.

Chanyeol blinked, what had he just witnessed? Was it merely an illusion? "It must be," he whispered to himself. He had watched as Kai left to get to the car a few minutes ago after they split up, there was no way he was already back and done, and... "He was wearing different clothes." He shook his head as if to say " _ no way _ ". "It's probably 'cause of those mushrooms I ate this morning... They looked a bit suspicious, thinking about it now."

The rope finally was released from her wrists, Chanyeol held onto the woman as her body fell down. He began to shake her to wake her up. His deep voice reached her ears first: "Well, hello beautiful!" She blinked a few times before fully opening her eyes. When her eyes got used to the light, she looked surprised seeing him, and feeling his strong arms holding her body that close. Sensing her anxiety, Chanyeol released her slowly from his embrace, dropping her small feet on the ground as softly as he could. "Sorry," he said while looking away, suddenly feeling a bit embarrassed about the way he woke her up. "Are you feeling alright?"

She didn't say anything and simply nodded. Her fingers brushed over her own wrists; they were already reddened with how that rope tightened around them for who knows how long. She cleared her throat, and without looking at him she said: "Thank you."

Chanyeol put his hands on both sides of his waist, looking around the room. "I had underestimated the situation... This place is like a maze."

Her eyes widened, she turned to him swiftly. "I know how to get out." She tried to talk as naturally as possible, part of her brain was reminding her of that annoying man's irritating smile at her earlier.  _ I have to do this _ , she thought. Chanyeol gestured to her to walk down the stairs before him for her to show the way out.

As they were about to leave the room, several armed men entered the area and the guy next to her shouted some names.  _ Must be his friends _ , she thought as she watched them approach the guy quickly. Just when he was going to tell them something, her eyes turned to see one of the security team swinging his truncheon in her direction. She shut her eyes tight, getting herself ready for the blow but it never happened. "No, sir, you don't get to touch the lady!" She saw that the tall guy got in front of her when she wasn't aware, and was holding the truncheon in his palm as the armed man was trying to hit him with his other arm.

She squeezed her lips in anger; gathering all her strength, she raised her feet in the air before throwing it over at the armed man's crotch. The man immediately held that area as he had to step back a little, his posture wavering. She looked at the tall guy turning to her, with an amused expression on his face: "That was awesome!" He managed to compliment her between the fight, making the woman roll her eyes.

One of the tall guy's friends swung his bat at the armed man, throwing him over the floor. He nodded at her, as a way of showing that he was appreciating the assist a few seconds ago, the woman assumed.

The tall guy threw his head at another one of the armed men, after the guy's fist had already thrown the guard off balance. "We have to flee soon," the tall guy informed the woman behind her. "Will you be able to run?"

Her feet were fine, but... Her hands picked her extraordinarily long dress, and started to tear it from the bottom, shortening it. While the tall guy was looking at her; she picked up a long, linear piece of it and circled it around one of the men's neck who was trying to sneak behind the tall guy. When the body dropped at his feet, the tall guy turned to her, obviously surprised. She smiled confidently: "Let's go."

The guy grinned. "After you, my lady."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How do you find Chanyeol's personality in this story? I'm really curious lol


	6. The Woman

Kai, Lay and Suho found themselves in a nearly fully dark, stuffed place - it felt like a basement, a storage room to be more specific; fortunately the ceiling was tall enough for them to walk around freely without having to bend their heads down. Realizing they were someplace else, both Lay and Suho turned their heads to the person responsible for this sudden change in their position. "I saw Chanyeol," Kai explained. "It was him."

Lay rubbed his temples. "He has no idea that woman is related to the Red Force..."

"We saw him rush to save her as soon as he arrived here. Do you think she is important to him in some way?" Suho asked, he continued his question in a more suspicious tone: "Is she her girlfriend or something?"

"That's a possibility," Kai replied with a sigh. None of them knew how Chanyeol was like on this Earth, except for the fact that he wouldn't really prefer his girlfriend to be affiliated with the Red Force. "Doesn't change the fact that she is working with the enemy here."

Lay stepped forward, his index finger pointing the youngest one. "Kai, catch them on their tracks, teleport them here!" Kai nodded, without wasting a second he vanished. He teleported to the hall that led to the back entrance the RF-guard was talking about earlier, and started waiting for someone to appear. He heard some footsteps so he immediately tried to hide his presence as much as possible.

A few seconds had passed as Kai held his breath in fear of getting himself spotted, but in the end someone he wasn't expecting appeared instead; it was Chanyeol and he was holding the woman's hand as they were rushing forward. Kai was about to hold onto the woman's hand; however, the moment he held her wrist, the woman's hand had slipped from Chanyeol's grip and Kai could only manage to teleport with her alone.

She looked as if she was in a daze, looking around nervously. "What just happened?! Where am I?!" Similar to a spell, she witnessed her vision which consisted of that tall man disappear like a pinch of flour dissipating into the air; now a stranger was holding her wrist tightfully and two more men were surrounding her. This day was getting worse every single second for sure.

Lay tried to calm her down as her head was facing each direction one by one, while she was trying to create a meaningful explanation of all of this; Suho's palms were turned to her if she ever thought of doing something funny: "Stay put!"

Her face turned into a frown; she raised her arms in the air, showing that she was clearly unarmed. "I can't possibly cause you any harm!" She blinked for a few seconds, staring at him intensely. "Wait a second, you— I just saw you swinging your bat at the SWAT team!" She could swear that this man had the same exact serious look that tall man's bat-wielding friend gave her after they successfully had taken down an RF-soldier; however, there also was a different aura to him, something... she couldn't put her finger on it.

Suho peeked at Kai, his hands still facing the woman, consulting him on how he should act. The younger one gestured to him to put down his hands, and crouched next to the woman kneeling on the floor. Maybe some talking would do the trick and this woman would spill some clues on what she was trying to do here, and what her business with Chanyeol was. "We heard you talking about your plan with a Red Force member."

She looked at him like he accused her of something really insulting. "I am not in an alliance with them whatsoever!" she shouted. "They had a leverage on me..." She turned to Lay, sensing that he was the one with the most moral sense, hoping that he would believe her words. "If we are both talking about the same Red Force, you'd know that they don't play fair." She continued when she saw his eyes turn away in acceptance. "My father... He got tricked by one of the workers in their casino. They stuck him deep down into debt. They told me he was going to get imprisoned if he couldn't pay the loan." Her eyes turned on the floor in shame. "I volunteered to take his place instead."

"What is your connection to Chanyeol then?" Suho asked. "There must be a reason why they chose you to get Chanyeol to rescue you."

" _ Chanyeol _ ? So that was his name..." Then, she shook her head: "They weren't focused on Chanyeol alone. They wanted the whole…  _ EXO _ here, or whatever they are called. I didn’t think they were more than a myth –something for the poor folk to believe in.”

“What do you mean?” Kai asked as the other two were also curiously looking at her.

She started telling more about the EXO on this Earth. “You know, we always have heard of some group of friends… formed in the deep ends of the more unknown parts of our town. They were said to fight against the government, which strongly is supported by the Red Force Corporation as well.” When she paused to catch some breath, Kai turned his head to the floor, thinking. So this Earth’s Red Force was something like an evil organization? “I think they had heard that EXO was going to visit their biggest money making machine –the casino. They were discussing their plan to ambush them with each other. Some of the more higher ups took me from their temporary cell to that building this morning, told me they had other plans for me. Said that if I follow their orders, I'll be off immediately." She stared at their eyes one by one. "No one would think of that twice!"

Firstly Lay exchanged looks with Suho, then they both turned to see Kai's reaction. He seemed frustrated, not exactly sure of what his actions would be the most logical; he was obviously having trouble believing her. Lay found this to be the perfect time to give some advice: "You know, she seems like she wants to escape Red Force as well."

"And... she was captured there." Suho continued.

Kai frowned. He wasn't the type to trust people easily, but... they wouldn't lose anything if they chose to believe her for now.

"I want to add something..." Her voice trailed off, as did her gaze. "That Chanyeol guy... He tried his best to get me to safety, even though he didn't know me at all. It was the first time… that a man tried to be of help to me..." She turned to face Kai. "I think the Red Force knew that he would come to help me first. I don't know why."

Kai started to think of a plan. They couldn't simply take Chanyeol from here and leave her here, even though it was obviously the easier path. "For now, let's find where Chanyeol is, then we will—"

"It's probably too late," the woman interrupted. "A Red Force squad was waiting behind the door when you..." She pointed at Kai, waving her hand in the air, thinking how she could describe what sort of a magic trick he performed on her a few minutes ago. "...took me there."

"You said they would let you go after you bring Chanyeol to them, right?" Kai stroked his chin, deep in thought. "We have to show them that you succeeded on your mission, so they won't hurt your father, or you. That is... if they stay true to their word." The woman clearly seemed unsure, but she wasn't going to push her luck. These guys were helping her in their own way even though she had made things more complicated for them earlier. She watched as the guy pointed his index finger in the air: "How did they get in that building? Chanyeol would probably go back the same way he entered, when you're not showing him the other way out – the gate the Red Force asked you to bring him out of."

Lay smiled in relief. "We still have a chance!"

"I'll come back here soon, it seems safer for you guys to stay in here." Kai said in a rush before he teleported the woman with her, to somewhere near Chanyeol. As he expected, Chanyeol was running towards a black jeep in front of a back entrance into the building. There were several men on the ground, Kai guessed that they were the RF-guards this Earth’s EXO had taken down as his team entered this casino. To waste no more time, Kai simply teleported inside his car.

The door was opened roughly and Chanyeol almost let out a yelp when he saw someone sitting on his passenger's seat. Looking at her more carefully after catching his breath, he noticed that it was the woman he brought down from the ceiling earlier. "How did you get in?"

Leaning from the back seat, Kai smirked at him, waving his hand. Chanyeol turned to him with another surprised face. "H-how?!" He eyed him quickly. "So it wasn't an illusion that I saw!"

Kai nodded. "Yes, I can tele..."

Chanyeol continued his sentence: "You really were wearing these clothes..." He seated himself while grunting. "You think this was a good time to do a little wardrobe change?"

" _ What _ ? No, Chanyeol—" He sighed as he slapped his forehead. "Whatever, we'll talk about that later. Listen to me carefully now!" The guy sitting on the driver’s seat turned to Kai with his big, round eyes, his lips squeezed tight as he was curious to hear what he was going to tell him that was this important. "You were walking into a trap by the Red Force."

"How?" Chanyeol asked with a smirk, clearly confident that he was no fool to be deceived easily by this organization. But the next second as his eyes immediately turned to the woman sitting next to him and received a guilty look from her, he looked at her with disbelief. "You tricked me, woman?!"

"She had no other choice, Chanyeol," Kai answered instead of her. "For now, you have to play into their hands, make them believe they succeeded. I have a plan to solve all of this."

He grimaced. "You're sure of this, right, Kai?" He narrowed his eyes, craving for a chance to poke fun of him as soon as possible, he added: "Unlike your first choice of clothes this evening?"

Kai ignored his sneer and just nodded confidently. "Trust me."

"Alright..." Chanyeol turned his eyes at the woman, pointing to the road. "Show me the way." His voice sounded colder to her this time, but she couldn't bring herself to get upset by it, since she was the one who had shattered his trust.

The car turned around on the street, after a few seconds they were trapped in between several cars with RF logos printed on each of them. "I hope you know what you're doing..." He stared at the back seat from the mirror, noticing that there was no one sitting there anymore. He turned around to confirm it with his own eyes. "Shit..." He turned back to his front; his hand grabbed his chest, feeling his heart almost trying to beat its way out of his body. "I am actually scared."

An RF security walked towards the car, opened the door forcefully before he dragged Chanyeol, turning his body and pushing his chest on the car's hood as he handcuffed him. Chanyeol watched as the woman went down from the jeep slowly, with a guard next to him.

He felt her fingers brush his own handcuffed hands behind him before she went out of sight.


	7. Rob the Rich, Give to the Poor

The guard left the woman outside of the building, she watched as he got in the same car they pushed Chanyeol in. They left soon enough, while the other cars still kept the perimeter guarded. After she had watched all of them leave, she brought her own arms to her chest in an attempt to make her own body a little bit warmer on this cold night. She wrapped her torn jacket on her shoulders as she started walking back home.

"Will you be safe?" Someone abruptly asked behind her, making her jump on her feet.

" _ Gosh _ ," she exclaimed; a hand was over her chest as if to stop her heart from beating that hard. She continued when she could control it: "Yes... Our agreement is concluded." Hearing this, Kai nodded. Sensing he was about to leave, she gripped his jacket suddenly. The guy looked at him, and she felt bad to make this clearly impatient man wait, just because she was shy about what she was going to ask. "But... Will he be safe?"

The guy seemed unbothered though. "If he's anything like the person I know of, he sure will be." And with that, he vanished from her sight completely.

Kai teleported both Suho and Lay into the car RF was taking Chanyeol to wherever they were planning to. Suho had found himself squashed between several guards, immediately doubting himself if he truly could perform what he had consulted with Kai a few moments ago.

He had never been so certain of using his powers to this extent, since those powers of his usually ended in results the opposite of what he and his members had expected; he would always blow it up. But after meeting this different version of his younger brother, he seemed to get greedier to give a helping hand, no matter the consequences –maybe he even wanted to show off! So when Kai had told him about his plan, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to do so.

These guards were all human, and humans were made of 70% water, right? Even though he had never had the guts to try out something as tricky as this, it seemed like the easiest way to get rid of these guards in the shortest time. All he had to do was focus on keeping the zone fixed his powers were effective over and right before it could reach Chanyeol, or even further to his other teammates. He felt his anxiousness return but he tried not to think of the awful possibilities roaming inside his mind.

The moment he had been teleported inside the car, he began to concentrate on dehumidifying the air. He watched as the guards turned their heads to them before beads of sweat drops started to form above their skin, one of them desperately trying to find a bottle of water somewhere. The last thing they had seen was Lay who was already holding onto the bottles at the corner, before the guards at the back all lost their consciousness.

Chanyeol jumped as their bodies dropped above the floorboard one by one. “What the hell?!” He looked at the man sitting still slowly release his tightened lips and open his eyes. “Suho?!” Chanyeol had expected him to find this disturbing; however his friend looked blissful with the results.

“I did it!” Suho exclaimed.

Before Chanyeol could react further, Kai who had teleported over the front seat earlier hastily pressed his foot on the brake while his fist took down the driver. With the impact of the sudden stop in their track, Chanyeol’s eyes closed by instinct, preparing himself for it was surely going to hurt as he moved around, however, two hands caught him in a safe embrace. When he opened his eyes again, he saw Lay smile at him as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened: "Oh, hi Chanyeol-ah!" He waved his hand at him.

The car had started moving again as Chanyeol waved back in a more uptight way. He pointed at Suho with a scared look on his face. "What did he just do? And  _ how _ did he do that?!” The last time he checked, Suho was more of a fighter than a sage who did  _ hocus pocus _ tricks.

Lay –who had crouched in front of him now, just grabbed his hands, examining them. "Woah, this seriously took me back to year 2016," said Lay, clearly impressed. "He really has the fake tattoos over his hands!"

Chanyeol pulled his hands away quickly; an insulted expression covered his features. "They are real tattoos!"

"Oh, right..." Lay ruffled his hair in a shy way. "Heh. I forgot our music video is a reality for you."

Chanyeol ruffled his hair back in its place in anger. " _ Music video _ — alright, someone needs to explain to me everything, because none of you are making any sense!" So many things had just happened in an hour! His friend Kai kept appearing out of places and his other friend Suho just did some magic show on those RF guards! He began to question if he was even sober right now.

Suho stepped into the conversation. "You have to come with us. The universe is in danger." Lay nodded in agreement.

Chanyeol threw his hands over the air, fuming right from his head. "That explanation did not help one bit!"

Kai tried this time. "Will you listen to us after we help your team back at the building?"

The tall guy's eyes lightened up. "Yes!"

The guy sitting in the front seat got off from the car, and opened the back door. He pointed at one of the uniforms of the RF guards, and then turned to Lay. "We'll wear these. Just the upper gear is enough, actually. It’s better to be quick, so be as light as possible." As both Lay and Suho began to take the uniforms off of the guards, Kai turned to Chanyeol to tell his plan.

The armed car returned to the building smoothly. The three of them, disguised as RF guards entered rather easily. "Wow, this Earth's Red Force isn't as smart as I thought," Suho whispered.

Just as he said that, one of the guards standing beside the door touched Lay's shoulder. "What is your identification number?"

As his back was turned over the door, Chanyeol who was waiting by the sill jumped at him, covering his mouth to prevent him from making any noise to alert the other guards. He waited until he passed out, then he dragged him away from attention. "You really are a croaker," he spat at Suho, while the latter turned his eyes away in guilt. Chanyeol grabbed the truncheon of the guard and threw it to Lay who barely caught it in the air. "Let's get to work."

They pushed the tall doors in front of them and walked inside. Suho immediately rushed to the next door to find Chanyeol's own members to assist them.

Lay noticed Baekhyun and Kyungsoo were surrounded by some RF soldiers; he couldn’t help but remember… how  _ fun _ it was to film this music video! He had always thought Kyungsoo shined with his acting in  _ Lotto _ through his excellent psychotic face. But he realized it would have sounded like he was crazy if he were to tell any of these guys anything about that. Instead, he immediately went to direct some of the guards’ attention in his own direction so the two could get some break. He swung the truncheon between his grip towards one guard’s head; however, as he wasn't the best at fighting, it didn't take long until Lay dropped on the floor, holding his ankle, wincing at the pain.

Hearing his groan, it was as if a wire inside Kai had split; he had lost sense of everything and his feet took him automatically next to him. His hands were shivering in fear that something could happen to Lay. "Are you okay?!"

Lay looked at him confusedly, he was glad Kai seemed to worry about him but he felt there was something else to this... However this was not the right time to think about that. "Yeah, but..." He showed his ankle, now dyed in a more purple color. "These ones are not human." Just when he finished his sentence, he realized a shadow was hovering over both of them. He pointed but before he could let a word out, a head fell at the space between the two.

"Androids..." Chanyeol explained right after getting rid of the robot's head with a spinning kick over the air, reminding Lay of some sort of video game character. "So this is where the Red Force is spending their money they earned from places like this."

Suho entered their room with a robot arm between his hands, “Guys,” he started enthusiastically, but when he noticed the robot head over the floor, he paused. “I see you’ve already noticed.” Chanyeol’s own teammates Suho had assisted earlier, joined them soon after.

"The Red Force on your Earth has just begun to evolve," announced Kai. "And they probably won’t stop until they take over everything – your government, your people, your… planet. It won't be too long before everything turns out to be like mine did..."

"What do you mean by  _ 'your Earth' _ ?"

Kai heaved a sigh, he was already getting tired of explaining this and he was only at the third member of his newly found team. He simply teleported to grab his own counterpart on this Earth by holding onto his arm, then appeared right back at his previous spot. A few gasps were heard around, including the one from the person he was holding. "This is possible because I am from another universe.” He released his grip immediately. “One that needs your help, Chanyeol."

"Well, but, we are still in the middle of—" Before he could finish his word, Kai stuffed all of the remaining enemies nearby inside the cage that stood behind D.O. and Baekhyun, constantly teleporting in and out.

"How about now?" He dropped all of the guns the RF forces were in possession of over the floor for the dramatic effect. They had wasted enough time already!

Chanyeol turned to Baekhyun right away. "Grab as much money as you can, then leave back for our hideout," he ordered. "I will be back in a short time." He turned to Kai this time. "I hope?" He sulked as he saw Kai simply shrug.

The guy standing behind Chanyeol instantly rushed towards the big roulette table standing at the center of the room, grabbing huge piles of dollar bills to put inside a bag another friend of his helped bring near. Lay covered his gaping mouth. "You guys are thieves!"

The tall guy puffed his chest out proudly though: "More like…  _ Robin Hood _ ."

His friends suddenly gathered up, with smiles on their faces, they shouted almost in unison: "and his  _ MERRY MEN _ !"

Kai sighed. "So this is why the Red Force was sure you'd help the lady first."

Suho just rubbed his forehead. "I hope we aren't getting ourselves in trouble right now..."


	8. Hard to Bear Gifts

"So how does this work?" Chanyeol asked curiously, but with a hint of mischief hidden between his words. "We all gotta hold hands or something?"

"That's exactly what we're going to do!" Suho said enthusiastically, impressed by how their new recruit had already started getting how their superpowers work. However, as it was just a teasing joke Chanyeol had blurted out, his big eyes grew even bigger somehow, as his lips turned into a pout.  _ This sure is going to be a weird journey _ , he thought.  _ Isn't it? _

Before he could even react verbally, just a split second after, they found themselves inside a poorly illuminated corridor. Chanyeol's head turned in each direction one by one, clearly excited about what he just had experienced. "Woah! We're really somewhere else right now!" His hands grabbed Kai's toned arms and he started shaking him happily. "You really  _ teleported _ us!"

Kai couldn't help but giggle; he really had missed seeing his older brother's child-like antics. Meanwhile, seeing Kai out of his constant mood of stress, Lay smiled at the scene playing in front of him before he shushed the both of them by placing his index finger above his lips, since he was cautious about being spotted just yet.

The guy at their back with his security glasses on, Suho began to look around to find out where exactly they were at. The corridor they were in seemed to lead to three different directions. "So which way do we go, Kai?" Suho inquired.

"Why does this look like the start of a maze?" Chanyeol's shoulders drooped in despair, also making Suho shiver in fear with the thought of getting lost in this place’s metal corridors.

"Guys?" Lay called them. "What's going on here?"

Hearing him, the other three approached Lay silently and tried to look through the small, rectangular shaped window that was pierced through the tall, metal door. The room consisted of many stretchers placed in a circular line; there seemed to be plenty of patients lying. There were several nurses tending them with the hospital-like serums connected to each of the patients. "That one looks like me," Suho pointed at the guy at the left, a small grin forming at the tip of his lips unconsciously. "Wow, look how his face shines." Chanyeol frowned at this comment.

"I remember reading about that highlighter the stylists used was sold out after the music video came out," Lay snuck in that information quickly, he sounded kind of proud of that.

Kai on the other hand, was focused on the nurses, also the behaviors their members on this Earth were displaying - they seemed like they were drugged. He could see D.O.'s body shake as if he was being electrocuted. "Look at those nurses."

Chanyeol leaned on the window, putting his hands above his eyes to cover the light a bit to see better. "They look really pretty!" He sounded really cheerful about it.

"They wear red covers on their heads..." Lay said softly, making the other two understand what the youngest one was trying to point at earlier. Suddenly, the nurses began to pick up their stuff around as if they were about to leave, therefore the four of them crouched down immediately to prevent any eye contact. Kai could hear them charging through the corridors; he waited a few seconds to make sure they weren't coming their way.

"Alright, first of all... We should probably try to understand what they were doing with the patients inside. Try to not get—" Kai had to cut his sentence, as Suho tapped his shoulder and then pointed at the guy who was already inside the room they were peeking at earlier. "Chanyeol!" He tried to shout while whispering, frustrated at how comfortable this brother of his acted.

The guy at the door sill proudly shook his gadgets he used to open the previously locked door. "Guys, they're all sleeping, don't worry!" Chanyeol waved his hand in the air, gesturing for them to join him. Suho nervously followed Lay's steps inside; Kai too realized they had no other choice now anyway.

Suho touched the serums, trying to find out what kind of substance they could be made of, while Lay was doing his best to open any of the lockers placed around the room. With a clicking sound, all of the other three's heads turned to Lay. "Some clothes," he informed them of what was hidden inside the box. "We could wear them to blend in."

"It might be useful," Chanyeol replied and then pointed at the stretchers. "Some of these are empty."

As Lay was handing the clothes, Kai looked at where Chanyeol was pointing at. Only two of the beds were empty. He inspected the patient's faces. "Only seven of them..." Kai stated. Their faces were truly of their own members as they had doubted, however Xiumin and Suho seemed absent. Standing in front of D.O., Kai began to shake him to try to wake him up.

Suddenly, the man's eyes flashed open and his hand grabbed Kai's wrist in a painfully tight grip. A sound of displease escaped out of Kai's mouth; he tried to push his hand away, however...  _ He's as strong as ever _ , Kai thought.

Once he realized who he was holding, D.O. released him immediately. "What..." was the first word that came out of his mouth. "Kai, what... did they do to us?" His voice was a bit crispy, indicating that he probably was under his previous state for a long time.

The ones lying on their stretchers also slowly started to wake up. D.O. frowned as he looked around the room, noticing something unusual. "Why are there two of you?" He asked confusedly, holding his head after he straightened up on his stretcher. "Did... Did they clone us?"

Hearing this, the other men lying on their places started to look around, noticing that they truly shared their features with some of these newcomers. The red-haired one was staring at his doppelganger standing at the center of the room. "Pfft," Chanyeol let out a laugh, ignoring him. "That's impossible." He stopped chuckling once he saw Lay turn his head to him with a serious gaze, suggesting that he was possessing information the others were unaware of. "Or is it not?"

"I wouldn't like to find that out!" Suho whispered anxiously at the corner.

Before Kai could say anything to reply D.O., the door they came in through closed on itself with a loud bang, also starting a siren sound. "Oops," Chanyeol said, rushing to the door, failing at opening it the same way he did earlier. "We're stuck here."

Kai realized that they didn't have much time left. "D.O.! If I could have hurt you, don't you think I would've done that before waking you up? Right now, you must realize that the Red Force will be here in a few minutes. You need to get us out of here as soon as possible!" Kai told him. "I'll explain everything on the way, you need to trust me." The man looking at him narrowed his eyes suspiciously, but then he nodded since he also had to escape from this place with his teammates anyway.

"Take cover," D.O. informed the others beforehand. Kai raised his arm in the air to prevent any possible window crack hitting his eyes, as did the others. A minute later, the half glass walls surrounding the room were all gone, creating an easy escape path alongside a very loud noise. D.O. picked the cables around his body and forcefully took them out, wincing at the pain for a second. Lay's eyes widened as he saw that the needles the nurses used for his skin were really thick, but the guy did not seem bothered in the slightest: "Let's go."

Chanyeol and the other two looked at Kai to say the final word; however, seeing that Kai was already following this guy’s lead, they silently joined the crowd. "Running through the narrow corridors with nearly a dozen people was maybe not the best idea," Suho said to Kai. "It's not inevitable that we—"

Their steps slowed down instantly as they faced a couple of Red Force nurses coming their way. "You really need to do something about that foreboder mouth of yours!" Chanyeol groaned with an " _ argh _ " sound.

"We need to split up!" Kai shouted as he grabbed Lay's hand without notice and began to run through the corridor on his left. In a few seconds everyone had already rushed from their spot since D.O. had coupled each of his team mates quickly. He had only left himself alone as he thought it was better to run on his own. He knew he was at his best potential like this. It wasn't like he wasn't cooperative with his teammates; it's just that this way he didn't have to worry if his actions caused unnecessary, evitable harms on other people.

The guy that woke him up... He really looked the same as the Kai he knew; however, D.O. was sure it wasn't him. He could tell from the energy he was projecting around, it was very unfamiliar. It was…  _ stronger _ .

That guy told him he was going to explain what was going on right before RF found them. "Was he really trying to help or... Was he simply saved by the bell?" D.O. tightened his fist angrily, before suddenly falling on the ground in pain.

Once again he was experiencing the downsides of his newly-granted superpower. His head was aching badly; his fingers rubbed his temples in vain. Some images... They were flashing inside his mind, making it almost impossible to tell what the hell they meant. They only caused pain to him; whatever they were, their energy was hurting him madly.

He cursed the Red Force in anger. All of these were due to this organization’s desire to have the best soldiers under their order, and he and his members were their first victims. They were first drugged, been tested on before they had proceeded to the final stage that was to inject their self-made DNA samples that their own scientists have somehow modified for their gain. The only thing they've done after they've given these powers to them was to force his members and him to use it, to test how far they could go, yet the RF never once cared about the side effects his powers had caused to use them. This was nothing but a curse he had to bear.

He tried to slide forward above the floor with no other choice, for he couldn’t take the risk of being found and captured once again by the RF. After a few seconds, the pain started to lessen and he could finally stand up again.

Supporting his body with one hand above the wall, he kept on going forward very slowly, hoping that the RF nurses wouldn't be much quick to get him, before he could help his team members Suho and Xiumin. They were the only ones that were absent in the room the RF kept him and the others captive inside. They were probably still being analyzed on their powers before they could be subjected to further, active field testing like the others had been to...

All D.O. could do was hope that they wouldn't feel as much pain as he did.


	9. Alone with Two

"You can release it now," Lay informed Kai for he was still holding his smaller hand tightly. He let out a chuckle as he saw the younger one blush, immediately letting it go.  _ Such a cute kid _ , Lay thought. Turning serious soon enough, he realized that the time to split up again wasn't too far ahead. "Be careful, Kai."

Lay watched as the younger one nodded before he separated to the right corridor. He could still hear that one nurse headed towards him from behind, but he tried to pay it no mind. This way at least his younger brother would be surely safe. All was well until his head had hit something really hard - he saw something was in between that one RF nurse's fingers, before he started to lose his consciousness as his body fell over the floor. The nurses loaded his body over the stretcher with robot-like, coordinated movements and left hastily.

First, he was taken to a dark room, seemingly empty except for a few, tall glass cases resembling rectangular water tanks; they were completely empty though. Two of them were already occupied, and Lay was slowly put inside the third one. That's when he started to gain his consciousness back, as he looked around his surroundings, he began to knock on the glass, to shout his lungs out to get his voice outside yet it seemed futile. A few seconds later, he felt something different, as if a sequence of imagery started playing at the back of his mind, setting him under a state similar to sleep...

***

It was no hard telling that Chanyeol was having trouble keeping up with what was going on after he had left his Earth. They really had travelled to someplace else with the help from that guy, who looks exactly like his own younger brother Kai. The way they had gotten here felt unquestionably surreal: The second he had blinked, they were somewhere else - they had called it...  _ teleportation _ . It sure felt like it, but Chanyeol still found it hard to believe it actually happened! And now, somehow, Chanyeol had ended up with a complete stranger —well, he wasn't exactly a stranger, but he kind of was?

After Kai told them all to split up, taking Lay with him; the guy in charge of this Earth's EXO – he looked like the D.O. he knew but there was something different with the way he acted – told them to couple up with the person on their left to speed up the process. Everything seemed fine for all the other guys… except for Suho, the one Chanyeol had travelled here with had to share the same fate with him of being coupled up with one of this Earth's EXO. He ran away to the opposite direction with this Earth's Kai following him quickly, and Chanyeol had to do with… this guy. This was a different Baekhyun running next to him. For instance, his hair was black, and... Now that he was staring at him properly, he had realized that anything except that hair color appeared to be exactly the same, making it harder for Chanyeol to remind himself the unspoken truth.

They've been running for a while now and Chanyeol's legs had started to get slightly tired. As if sensing this, Baekhyun pointed to a room on their right. Chanyeol entered without hesitation as he was already craving a break. He crouched on the floor immediately after they locked the door behind themselves; he was having trouble catching his breath. "I haven't run that much since our heist on the _Great_ _Ertonding_ ," Chanyeol uttered. "And that was five years ago!"

Baekhyun stared at him for a few seconds, before saying: "What the hell are you talking about?" His eyes widened when he looked more carefully at him. "Hold on a second, are you one of those guys? You don't sound so fine..."

Chanyeol quickly pushed away Baekhyun's hand on his forehead; he was probably trying to check his body temperature. "This could have been prevented if Kai would have taken his time to explain what we came here for," he murmured with irritation. "Yes, I am not the Chanyeol you know of."

Baekhyun scanned him with his eyes from the top to the bottom. "Well, that's for sure."

"What's that supposed to—" Chanyeol was about to protest, until they noticed someone else in the room. " _ Please don't be one of those ladies, please don't be one of those ladies, please don't be one of those ladies _ ..." He began mumbling to himself.

The guy next to him simply nudged him. "Go on, attack her!"

Chanyeol looked offended. "I can't hit a lady!"

Baekhyun frowned as if he wanted to beat his ass right there. His mind was still a bit dizzy due to those RF robots sedatives all of his members and him were given, so he wasn't as confident as he would be in his own powers. However this giant seemed better than ever. Well, he looked the same as his own friend Chanyeol. If RF was successful enough to clone him, surely they must have gone full on for it... meaning that he also would have the tall guy’s pyrokinetic powers, right? "Release some fire on her or something, before she gets to us!"

"I don't have any weapon on me!"

Baekhyun raised Chanyeol's arm. "What the hell is this?"

"That's my...  _ arm _ ?" Chanyeol didn't sound so sure; anything could have happened on this strange Earth.

Baekhyun sighed. Okay, so maybe he was not as talented as his best friend just yet. "Just close your eyes, will you?" Chanyeol listened to him, and Baekhyun created an almost blindingly bright light source between his palms; he directed it over the nurse. He was concentrating with his all, making it very tiring to even breathe for him at that moment, yet he still did his best to talk to Chanyeol: "Come on! I can't move right now. Please, just do anything!"

Chanyeol, who was more capable of the way of street fighting, thought of what would be the best move in this situation - he should use his tallness to his advantage! He swiped his long leg above the floor to hit the nurse's ankle to get her on the ground. After that, he quickly jumped on top of her to prevent any of her further possible attacks towards them. Holding her wrists with just one hand, he stared at the nurse's indifferent face directed at him. "You really look so pretty looking at me like that but," Chanyeol closed his eyes, about to regret his next move. "I have to do this if I want to get out of here alive." His fist met with the RF nurse's cheek, but he immediately regretted it once he realized that his clenched hand had collided with the metal underneath her artificial skin. "These are robots!”

Baekhyun's eyes lightened up with Chanyeol's words. "Then we have a chance to defeat them!" Chanyeol swiped his body over the floor, making way for his companion. Baekhyun concentrated to move that light source in front of his palms and make it turn into something destructive, imitating a laser beam. He held Chanyeol's hand as he closed the door behind the both of them, before the robot’s head exploded.

***

_ Dark. Something was travelling in the depths of an infinite darkness. Its speed, incomprehensible. It crossed stars, planets with the ease of a strolling cat. Then, he realized: It was not something but...  _ himself _. A pain struck him. He winced. Then he witnessed further. Fire, air, ice, thunder, and more. And then, a source of light. _

Lay opened his eyes, exhaling deeply as if he had woken up from a coma. Seconds had passed before he could gain his consciousness back, minutes for him to finally have any strength to move. As his fingertips touched the material in front of him, he remembered that he was caged inside a glass cell. It was a very tall cell but rather narrow. He could breathe very well inside, however it still felt really limiting. How did he even find himself under this situation?

He tried to force his mind to trace back; what was the last thing he remembered happening? "The..." With the first word out of his mouth, the raspiness of his throat bothered his ears. He continued thinking out loud after clearing his throat. "That RF nurse... It hit me..."

His eyes turned to his right as he heard a noise. Someone else was in here and that same someone was knocking on the glass to get his attention. "Hey!" The guy exclaimed, which Lay answered by bowing his head.

"What is this place?" Lay asked in return.

"I don't know either..."

Lay smeared the glass to see better, and the other guy did the same. His face sported a smile once they crossed stares with each other. "Junmyeon-ah!" He exclaimed cheerfully, but the other guy seemed confused. "Ah," Lay shook his hand in the air, understanding why he seemed puzzled. "Suho!" Now the other guy also seemed content, waving his hand at him.

"How do you feel?" The guy asked him immediately, his hands at the bottom of the glass; he was crouching inside that narrow space.

"A little bit overwhelmed," Lay explained. Certainly this Earth had started off with a slow start, but then it took a quick turn to become  _ the world's greatest rollercoaster of events _ . But, this guy... This was this Earth's Suho. "How long have you been here?"

"I don't... remember, but I was... I somehow gained my consciousness back before they brought you here." He started. "Something must have happened outside that made us wake up."

Lay smiled nervously. Something had happened alright. "I think it may be due to my friend..."

Two knocks caught both of their attention; Xiumin was waving at them with a bitter smile. "I see we got a new companion."

Lay heaved a deep sigh; it wasn't meant to be like this at all. These two were unaware that he was someone else - since Lay wore one of the white outfits laying inside that box back at that room, the thought must not even crossed their minds. But he couldn't waste any time trying to explain anything right now. The only thing that mattered was how they were going to get out of here as soon as possible.

"Why do you think only the three of us are here?" Lay asked.

Xiumin raised an eyebrow. "Weren't we all brought here together, with the others?"

"Yes, but..." Suho looked around the dark room. "I think Lay is correct. We seem to be alone here." He sighed. "I don't know what they've done to us while we were unconscious. I can only hope for the least harmful experiments." He let out a sour chuckle before his fingers rolled up his long white sleeve a little bit higher up his forearm to reveal a couple of small tear marks. "But it surely involves needles."

With what he had heard from this Earth's Suho, he went to check his own arms but... Neither of them had any marks at all.  _ Strange _ , he remembered sensing a sting during his dream. Maybe it was just all inside his head... Or maybe, he was still sleeping, but a quick pinch over his skin debunked this idea immediately.

Suho's question grabbed him out of his train of thoughts: "You mentioned a friend caused us to wake up, or something? What friend?"

"Well, to be exact, it was both my friend  _ and _ your friend together." He continued after Xiumin too turned to him curiously. So it was time to explain some things. "I am not from...your Earth. I came here from so far away, and a very,  _ very _ different planet from yours." Suho and Xiumin looked at each other as if Lay was drug talking, but Lay only smiled. "It's okay if you don't believe me... I wouldn't have believed this either if I had not experienced it firsthand."

"Experienced what?" Xiumin asked.

"Teleportation." Lay answered, getting double stares back. "That is something the Kai that I had travelled here with was capable of. Something that is impossible to do on where I came from, but it was almost natural to him. He took me, and two other friends on this Earth." He heard the two snicker as silently as possible behind the glass, but he tried to ignore it, and continue. "We all were trying to understand what was going on here as well. Seeing all of you – almost all of you there, lying unconscious we were afraid that something bad had happened before we had arrived. Kai – the one I had travelled with – tried to wake one of you up, your friend D.O. to understand what was going on."

"Are you saying that was why all of us suddenly gained our consciousness back?"

"That might be the case," Lay agreed. "But more importantly, he did something extraordinary, something like what I told you two about my friend Kai performing. Something that this..." He pointed at himself. "...Zhang Yixing would not have believed before meeting that brother." Xiumin and Suho were almost at the edge of their cells with curiosity. "He shattered all of the glass surrounding the room, helping us get out of there, without moving even one finger."

He heard the two of them release their breaths that they've been holding, but still... "Could this be... what the Red Force was doing to us?" Suho's hands were trembling in fear, in fear of turning to someone else.

Suho here might not be the Kim Junmyeon he was familiar with but it still was the same guy deep down. And it was his duty to raise his chin up when he was down! Lay would have done his best to calm him down if there weren't several glass walls separating them, so he had to revolve for the verbal consolation: "Don't worry, your friend seemed alright. He knew how to control his powers." He looked into his eyes. "We're going to get out of here, okay?"

Suho showed him a little smile but it didn't seem too sincere.


	10. Something Spectacular

"If our theory is true, your superpowers must work incredibly over these..." Lay's fingers brushed above the glass wall, trying to come up with anything that could help them get out of their cells.

"Even if what you said is indeed true, I still don't know what my superpowers would be." Suho sounded kind of annoyed at this point.

A grin appeared over Lay's lips. "But I do!" He raised his fists in the air with excitement. "I've been to this music video set!" When he realized that the two were back on giving him weird looks, he calmed himself down and started to explain: "Suho's power is water, and Xiumin," he pointed at him. "Yours is frost."

"What's yours?" Xiumin asked him, shaking his shoulders back and forth eagerly, with a smile.

"Mine would be healing, but as I mentioned earlier, I am from an Earth where superpowers do not exist." Lay turned his eyes back at Suho, trying to remember how Suho – the one he travelled between Earths with – tried to guide him to use his talent back then. The first time Yixing had met them two... "I need you to close your eyes and... empty your mind first. Then try to control the energy hidden inside you..." He continued with an almost inaudible whisper: "...or something like that."

Suho however, obeyed him completely as he closed his eyes and tried to create a small form of water above his palms. He waited, and waited, yet nothing happened. He crossed his brows, and a small droplet of sweat brushed over his forehead. Just a little drop, anything, he wished inside his mind. Unfortunately nothing happened at the end. His eyes turned to Lay. "You see? It doesn't work..." He heaved a sigh. "It's been too long since we've been basically caged inside these cells." He rested his back on the glass. "You don't understand how desperating it feels, since you've just came here."

Seeing this, Lay couldn't help but remember how he also couldn't perform any superpower either when he was asked to. Contrary to what this Suho in front of him just stated, he actually understood how it is. How it felt to be... the baggage of the team. Since Lay had joined Kai's new team, he realized he had not done anything impressive. All he could do was just follow along, and try to help in as best as he could.

But was that a bad thing? Was trying one's hardest something to feel insecure about?

"Yes, I might not," Lay confessed, averting his gaze. "And... I do not have any of your supernatural abilities. Nor did my teammates Xiumin or Suho from my own universe..." It felt a little weird to refer to them with their stage names but... This had to do for now. "We didn't fight the Red Force at all." He received two surprised looks in return. "Red Force doesn't exist on my Earth." It did, in their fictional world but saying that would only bring more questions to the table.

Suho smiled. "That doesn't sound too bad."

"Yes, but..." Lay fiddled with his fingers. "Having these superpowers is really something cool, you know? So if you have them, it would be nice to use them right now when we need it the most."

His smile faded quickly. "Didn't you see? I can't even use them, even if I wanted to." He sighed. "Probably because we've woken up before completing our transformation."

"What if we try to combine our powers together?" Xiumin suddenly interrupted them.

"We might not have the energy to control them by ourselves, but..."

"...it might just work if we work on it together!" Suho's grin returned to his place, his teeth shimmering between his lips.

Lay's face brightened with seeing Suho turning back on his positive side. He watched as the two closed their eyes, creating a single icicle outside of the glass cells, jumping at the sound of that piece falling on the ground with a loud crash. Their faces turned to each other as they were laughing together afterwards.

Several other icicles followed the first one, and they all collided with the glass cells, breaking them all at once.

*******

Chanyeol had already gotten used to this version of Baekhyun next to him right now. He was a lot more snarky than the usual Baekhyun he was used to, and Baekhyun was already pretty snarky to begin with! Also Chanyeol thought it was really cool how he could create light just between his palms like that. "Can I make something like that too?" He had asked.

"Are you for real?" Baekhyun replied to him, pointing at his hand. "That's what I tried back inside that room!"

"I don't understand..." Chanyeol confessed.

Baekhyun shook his head. "You know what, nevermind." He grinned. "Those moves you did there... You are not so bad actually." Chanyeol was not expecting a compliment from him, so he returned his grin.

Just then, their steps crossed with a fairly tired looking D.O., and from the other direction, that Kai who Chanyeol saw perform that magic trick of teleportation today. Soon enough, the whole team was there - both D.O. and Kai's own. Before anyone could say anything, the sound of some boots hitting the ground reached their ears. Kai made them hide behind the corner, but D.O. insisted on going with him to find out what was going on.

What they saw was something they both never expected: Kai - the one from D.O.'s own team, was... dancing alone at the center of the corridor; with the spotlight just above his tall figure, he seemed like a true performer with... well, no audience except the very confused two. "What the..." D.O. mumbled.

"I don't... Know either!" The blonde haired Kai shouted between his moves —his very impressive moves. "Something must have gone wrong with their experiments! I can't stop dancing for some reason, this is... ridiculous!" Chanyeol couldn't help but burst out a laugh.

From the darkness, a familiar figure showed up, approaching the dramatic spotlight shyly. It was the same Suho, the one Kai had brought up from another world. "He just started dancing all of a sudden..." He fixed his glasses. "Something must have triggered this, but I don't know what could—" Suddenly, his eyes grew wide, and he pointed behind the two of them. "D.O., look behind you!"

Before the smaller man could even react, Kai who had been standing next to him teleported the both of them, to where the nurse who was about to tranquilize them. D.O. gripped her robotic head and threw it into the ground with his inhuman strength, easily disconnecting it from the rest of her body, revealing her cable structure underneath. He heard Chanyeol from Kai's team dramatically gasp, but it was not because of what D.O. had just done. It was for something far worse.

Everything had happened too fast.

His teammate Suho's body was lying on the ground, and his skin had lost almost all of his color and Xiumin, holding his hand tightly with tears streaming down his face.

D.O. immediately rushed to crouch next to his friend, his fingers trying to embrace his body tangled with a needle stung into his arm. A thin stream of blood was running down his fair skin and some of it had been smudged on his white clothes. He took it out, pushing his cloth onto the wound as he cradled his friend's body, trying to find any kind of energy at all inside him... But to no avail.

Lay who was standing behind them tried to hold both of them before D.O. almost collapsed to the ground out of despair. The same guy who Yixing had just met, just a few minutes ago who he had escaped from that dangerous situation with, was now lying on the ground unconscious like this. It seemed like he had been dehydratized, his bones were becoming more and more visible with each passing second. Lay closed his eyes because he could not bear to see the friend he made today, turn into this version of him which was... so  _ unfair _ ...

The Suho who was a stranger to this Earth had already turned away his gaze. This was terrifying. What if his end was going to be the same as this guy?

He immediately brushed away his thoughts; thinking like this was very selfish of him. These people had... They had lost their friend. Just like Kai who he had run away with.

It was... indeed  _ terrifying _ to lose someone close.

Suddenly, something else had grabbed his attention though: The panting of the guy standing next to him, holding onto his knees. The moment his counterpart of this Earth had dropped to the ground, Kai had somehow managed to stop dancing. The first time they had seen him back in that circular room, he seemed completely normal. Only when...  _ These two were missing inside that room where we first stumbled upon them... Xiumin, and me... this Earth's version of me, was it perhaps the awakening of his friends, that triggered something inside this dancing guy? _ Suho thought.

A few seconds later, Lay opened his eyes back after hearing his own team's leader Kai whisper, "Lay, your powers..." He checked back at the body he was holding, suddenly feeling a lot heavier. A small smile crept up his lips as Suho opened his eyes back behind his messy black hair.

Lay looked at his fingertips. Something truly felt different with him.

"L...Lay?" Suho tried to speak.

"Are you okay?!" Almost all of them asked in unison, cheering as Suho did his best to nod. Xiumin embraced his friend into his hold, breaking into a relieved laugh, wiping his tears away from his eyes. D.O. on the other hand could not keep his tears anymore as he started to cry silently.

While his team members all rushed up to Suho's side, showing their gratitude; Lay stepped back to give them some room, his mind on something else. It had... worked?

Lay had healed someone. He had... superpowers now?

Kai gripped his arm with a surprised grin on his face. "Lay, you... You did it!" He let out a single laugh, further showing his amusement.

With swift steps the glasses wearing Suho approached them, holding onto his jacket as he ran. "I believe something must have happened to you while we were separated, am I right?"

Lay tried to rewind his day inside his mind, thinking of what could have caused this strange phenomenon. He remembered having a weird sequence of visions happening, but it had felt like only a dream...

"Well," Lay scratched his head, chuckling. "A lot has happened!" He helped this Earth's Suho and Xiumin get up, smiling at them both sincerely from the bottom of his heart. "We've been through this together." He held his tears back. "Thank you guys."

Suho shook his head. "No, thank you!" He hugged Lay, Xiumin also joining them.

Chanyeol suddenly burst into tears of happiness, turning to his left to hug the man who he had met just an hour ago. Baekhyun tried to remain calm under his tight grip. This man was strong!

D.O.'s smile professionally hid itself before his serious stare found its place back on his face as he turned his head to Kai. "You know, you've promised me something," he said. "You still haven't explained to me anything at all."

Kai nodded, and extended his hand to help him get up. D.O. continued staring at him for a few seconds before accepting his hand. The taller one began speaking: "We are on a... quest. A quest to end the Red Force once and for all. I have been recruiting members travelling between Earths. And..."

"You need me this time?" D.O. asked and Kai nodded. "I'll do it... on one condition." Suho raised his eyebrow. "You need to take my members somewhere safe as I will be away, with you. For I'll feel... guilty for leaving them behind here."

Kai smiled at him sincerely. "Don't worry. We are all together in this."

Chanyeol clapped his hands, gathering everyone's attention. "...seventeen, eighteen. Alright, everyone's here, right?" He laughed. "Now hold each other's hands!"

As D.O. looked offended, Kai coughed. "I just need to have some sort of physical connection with you." He extended his hand again, but this time in the air. A few steps followed him, creating a circle around him, each one putting their hand above the previous one. "Let's go somewhere safe."


	11. The Unidentified Earth

Kim Minseok was living his best life.

Each morning, he woke up next to the most beautiful person in the entire world, his Yixing; he had his own cafe that he had always dreamed of as a kid. He also had the chance to meet his friends often in his place, his days filled with laughter and happiness. Everything sounded...  _ magical _ .

But the same routine repeated itself. Wake up, eat your meals, work, work, come home to kiss your husband, only to wake up again the day after, and hearing the same words every morning:

_ "Happy anniversary, Minseok-ah." _

Yixing did not change even one sound, one letter in that sentence through the weeks, the months and ultimately, even the years following that first day. It was the exact same. Even though Minseok did different things during the day, the outcome always stayed identical. His husband had not come to ever realize that he was in a loop of events.

Minseok knew he did not have the rights to complain, for that was all he had left. So he kept his silence and lived through it.

That was until something very strange had happened on that one day...

*****

Kai started to feel really fired up, since they had succeeded getting seriously close to finally completing the team. With having both of his elder brothers Lay and D.O.'s guidance behind his back now, he thought that wherever his other elder brother Xiumin was at would probably be the safest Earth in the entire multiverse. 

Sure enough, the Earth they had travelled to find him seemed pretty calm at first glance. Just climbing up a sloping street downtown, the team realized it was still a bit crowded for this hour, but for once no one was trying to hurt them in some way; everything seemed perfectly normal.

"It seems alright?" Lay expressed with a faint fear of the city losing this calm state soon.

"Maybe  _ too _ alright..." Suho whispered but his voice was loud enough for Chanyeol to hear and send a glare at his direction. "Okay, I'm shutting up." Fortunately, nothing had happened even after Suho's words, again - for the first time. Kai assigned Suho to find a place for D.O.'s team to stay at; eyeing the smaller man, he noticed that D.O. looked really tired from the events of their Earth previously.

He approached him slightly, lowering his voice to not get too much attention from the others they were walking together with. "Are you alright?"

D.O. silently nodded. "It's probably due to your... teleporting skills," he replied, taking off his plastic looking jacket off of his shoulders, the white outfit of his emphasizing his small figure. "It's warm out here."

Kai turned his head towards the sky, facing the sun smiling at them as he covered his eyes with his hand. "It must have been tiring to be trapped inside there..." He said once he turned back to him. "I'm sorry that I took that long."

"It was not your fault," D.O. answered, his eyes showing remorse. "It was mine. I don't know how I could be so blind to drive my team to a ploy like that."

That surely was an answer Kai could expect from D.O.. "Forgive me for saying this but... aren't you expecting too much from yourself?" He continued after seeing D.O. waiting for him to explain: "Red Force is a big organization, and you are just one man. It's okay to make mistakes."

"But is it okay when it risks all your friends' lives?" D.O. stared at him so coldly, and Kai realized he did not have any answer to this question. He... He had made a big mistake himself...leaving Suho there and rescuing his own life alone, a mistake he could never forgive himself for.

Lay, who had been looking around for a while without saying any word, grabbed the youngest one's attention: "What is it?"

"I was trying to find a clue that could tell us what could possibly wait for us on this Earth," he replied while still continuing on his search. "Each Earth I have visited with you... They were... I knew all of them through our... artistic work," he tried his best to make him understand that he had been in these music videos; Lay attempted to find a trace of this in Kai's surprised expression. "Anything could be a clue! Though it will be really hard, since this just seems like the city of Seoul back on my own Earth. I'm _ not sure which MV this would be... _ " His voice trailed off near the end of his words.

Chanyeol put his arm on Lay's shoulder casually, surprising the other one. "Don't worry one bit! As long as I'm here, I'll protect you guys." D.O. rolled his eyes at his comment; this tall guy was really too care-free for his taste. His attention span was too short as well; it was further proven when Chanyeol shouted the next second, pointing at a building: "Oh! Guys, guys! Let's stop here for a second."

The tall guy's hands were glued on the glass surrounding a wide coffee shop - the smell taking them all in, making them realize that this place not only sold warm drinks but also baked goods. Lay's stomach growled; D.O. tried to gulp as silently as possible. Kai was about to enter but something made him stop; his arm made others stop their track as well once he pulled them all behind the corner. Pointing inside, "My counterpart is in there...'' he stated.

The others peeked through the clean glass. D.O. realized the person who this Earth's Kai was sitting with was none other than himself. "I wonder what we are talking about. I seem unusually serious."

"You always do seem like that though," Chanyeol groaned, earning himself another glare before D.O. returned to peek. However, he wished that he hadn't. Quickly as possible, he averted his gaze, his small hand covering his mouth as if he was about to throw up. This has gained Chanyeol's curiosity. "What is it that you react this much—" He took his turn to peek but regretting it as well: Kai and D.O. was kissing really passionately. He turned away feeling embarrassed to be looking at such a scene. His eyes wide, "Well, they sure are in love," he tried to say to pass the subject completely.

D.O. standing next to him stepped a few steps away from Kai uncomfortably with a cringing expression on his face. Kissing his friends from their lips was not something he was particularly interested in, but he wasn't sure if this Kai enjoyed it.

They all watched as the two lovebirds left the building a few minutes later, swinging their intertwined hands. Once the team was sure they had left, they turned their heads inside again.

Lay laughed on his own. "Haha, look at me," he said, pointing at the man sleeping soundly, his head laying on the table sideways and his face facing the window, their side specifically. "Now that  _ is _ something that has happened a lot."

"Do you think we'd be able to find Xiumin here as well?" D.O. asked with a suspicious tone. Suddenly, a man approached that sleeping Lay's table; he nudged the man on his arms before turning his face to his right to meet these four men staring at them two. His short height with his pretty, soft features made them all realize this was the person they were looking for.

"Bingo," Kai whispered, mentally preparing a speech beforehand about how he was going to explain being on another Earth this time. However, instead of getting weirded out by their appearance or something else, Xiumin just waved his hand in the air very casually and gestured to them to come in.

As that sleepy Lay slowly walked upstairs, going who knows where, the man greeting these strange uninvited guests opened and held the door for them as they hastily entered inside. "Welcome to Coffee _ with Kim _ , we hope you enjoy your stay here!" He enthused.

" _ Kim _ ? As in, Kim Minseok?!" Lay inquired, appalled that there was another person using their real names on these Earths.

"Yup, that's me!" Xiumin, or Minseok, chuckled.

Chanyeol snickered. "Well, that's not a very original title for your bakery."

Minseok just shrugged. "Tell that to the author of this story. They are not very good at giving names anyway; they probably found this one in a minute." Chanyeol turned to D.O. to ask what he meant – he seemed like a smart guy to Chanyeol, somehow similar to that glasses-Suho in that sense – but disappointingly, D.O. himself looked as lost as him as he shrugged.

The team silently followed the owner of the coffee shop, sitting on the round, wide table at the center he showed them. "I know that you guys are from another world." As if caught red-handed, they all exchanged looks with each other. Minseok travelled his eyes between the guys: "It's the first time I'm seeing any one of you here before though. So, who's going to tell me what your business here is?"

All eyes turned to Kai, making the youngest clear his throat: "We need you to come with us on our quest to defeat the Red Force for one and all." He felt content with the simplest answer he could come up with at that moment.

Minseok widened his eyes. "Oh... So you guys are from a science fiction story..." His voice trailed off, but Kai seemed to get delighted.

"Then you're coming with us?" He beamed.

The guy however, simply shook his head. "I'm afraid I cannot, even if I would like to." Suho's shoulders drooped; Chanyeol brought his hands to his locks stressfully and D.O. rested his back on the chair, heaving a sigh.

Lay turned to him with desperate eyes; through his whole journey with Kai, this was the first time that he had crossed roads with someone that didn't seem... unique to him. This man standing in front of him looked just like the Minseok he knew from his own Earth. His lovely, caring, kind brother Kim Minseok... But this guy was also the one that did not want to join them! "For what reason?"

Minseok smiled bitterly, seeing his own husband's features sporting this man's face as well. These eyes were really convincing to him, but there were set rules on this Earth that outsiders would have a hard time understanding. "I'm sure you had seen some other versions of you inside this coffee shop while you were lingering around," he started. Kai and D.O. shyly nodded, unwillingly remembering the events prior. "They were the third versions of themselves that paid a visit here, just today. And you two are now officially the fourth."

"We are not a couple!" Kai stated nervously as D.O. nodded quickly.

"The first ones today were not, either. Actually those two might even be enemies, I'm not sure." He paused and thought about it for a second, before shaking his head and leaning in again. "Anyway, what I was trying to say is... This coffee shop is kind of like a meeting point for all... Earths." He scratched his chin with his index finger curiously. "Strange, though... You guys don't feel like you all are from the same Earth."

Chanyeol widened his eyes; he was really impressed by Minseok's on point assumptions. He sure wasn't the warden of this place for nothing. "We were brought together from different Earths... by this guy," he pointed at Kai.

"Your cause is noble," he smiled at him the way Kai remembered his own brother also did. With reassurance and sincerity. "But I can not leave this place. Keeping this place intact is my duty. Forever." That same smile suddenly had disappeared with his latest words.

"How did you even get to this position in the first place?" Lay asked with a somber tone.

Minseok sighed. "Let me get you guys some coffee."


	12. About Mr. Kim and, well, Mr. Kim

Getting away from their new recruit D.O. was going to be a breath of fresh air to Suho. Or, at least, that's what Kai had promised to him when the older one offered to replace Lay's position.

Lay had spent some time with the white clad Suho and Xiumin earlier, therefore was the perfect choice for this side quest of finding these guys a place to stay, but the moment they landed on this new, different Earth, the glasses-Suho had expressed his frustration to Kai about D.O., making him rethink his decision.

This version of D.O. was... too timid; he got annoyed very easily and very often much to Suho's disinterest. It wasn't like the D.O. from his own Earth was a happy-go-lucky person or something, however this guy was something else! He had a really thrilling aura around him and Suho felt like he was walking on eggshells anytime he was around, and they hadn’t even spoken once yet!

It was nice not to have him around. Sadly, this feeling of bliss continued for only about a couple of minutes. Because Kai had literally given him the responsibility of 8 people right now. 8 men that he was completely unfamiliar with, well, except their names.

_ “How did we come to this place?” _

_ “Where are we going?” _

_ “He looks exactly like me...” _

_ “Where did he get these clothes?” _

Was his decision to take Lay’s position a total mistake? He had no experience in leading before, not even once!

He felt his anxiety getting the best of himself, so he tried to calm down by breathing.  _ Count to ten, Suho,  _ he thought to himself. _ One, two, three...  _ He brought his fingertips to his temples. _ Six, seven, eight, nine, ten. _

He breathed out.

"Alright, can you all please be quiet and just follow me?" He tried to ask politely. Someone raised his hand. "Yes, Sehun?"

"What's going on?"

"That's a great question," he tried to gain some time as he started to think. "Well, to put it out shortly, Kai has saved you all from that maze Red Force has trapped you in and now I'll be guiding you to your temporary accommodation, as D.O. will be joining our team shortly." He did his best to give a reassuring smile but he had been screaming internally the whole time.

The flaming red haired Chanyeol turned to the tall guy standing next to him, holding his arm. "Woah, thanks Kai!" Chen looked at him and just laughed along at his stupidity.

"Do you really know where we will be staying?" Suho in white clothes asked him.

Facing himself —literally, was definitely a surreal experience but Suho somehow got so familiar with this concept already that it was scary. "I… don't..." The guys immediately started to create a commotion after this. "But…!" He tried to gain their attention back. "I'm sure if we all work together, we can find a way to solve this problem at hand."

Xiumin stepped forward cautiously. "Guys, his friend Lay... He helped me and Suho get out of those glass cages, and even," He pointed at his own friend Suho. "...healed him back. His friend Kai was the one who helped us escape from there." He cracked a small grin, showing his healthily red teeth gums. "I don't think it's that hard to believe that he’ll help us greatly as well."

Suho returned him with a sincere smile. "...Thank you." He let out quietly as the others started to follow his slow trail silently. "Well, we're just going to kind of stroll the area I guess. Should we just—" His words were cut out as two armed bodyguards gripped him on both his arms, and another one covered him with his huge build. "What is this about?!"

"We're glad you're safe, Mr. Kim." The guy on his left whispered with a genuine sounding concern.

The guy in front of him did not share this feeling however: "Do you want us to get rid of these punks, sir?" Hearing this, Xiumin guarded his members standing behind him, out of a will to protect them but also to stop his members from doing something idiotic with these very buff squad of men.

"Punks?!" Suho repeated with a surprised tone.

“Sir, these people probably are a part of a larger gang.” The guy on his right stated. His companion holding Suho's left arm nodded, backing his theory: "They seem to be wearing the exact same clothes."

"They are with me!" Suho shouted, making them immediately stop their movements. As all of the bodyguards' faces turned to his direction, he realized that his voice came out louder than he had intended. He continued while facing the ground, his voice turned a lot more silent: "And please let me off."

The bodyguards looked at each other for a second hesitantly before letting him go. One of them spoke up with an apologetic tone: "You haven't returned from your trip to the mall for a while so we just got a little nervous, excuse us, sir."

D.O.'s team was staring at Suho, expecting some answers.  _ Think, Suho! What would your leader Baekhyun do in a situation like this? _ First, he had to learn a bit more about this... _ “Mr. Kim”. _

"Sorry,” he started, but then he thought that it might sound off when talking to subordinates. It was so  _ not  _ his area to perform stuff like this! “I… _ (cough)  _ …was just catching up with some friends."

The bodyguard shook his hand in the air. "It's okay, sir. It's just that the chairman had told us that there was something important he had to talk with you before he leaves."

"Before he leaves where?"

The man blinked. "Mr. Kim, your father is going to turn in the company to you, you know." Suho's lips curled in a way expressing his surprise but he tried to wipe it off of his face quickly, and nodded a few times. This Earth was surely a lot different than the others he had traveled to! It was giving him exactly what he had needed instead of nuisances.

"I will talk to him later," Suho replied nonchalantly, somehow getting into his role of an arrogant, rich son. "For now, I'll need to find a place for my friends right here."

The man pulled out his cellphone. "Count it done, sir.”

*****

Chanyeol sipped the foam of his steaming latte. "Wow, what is this drink?" He nibbled on it, creating a mustache made of milk above his lips. "It's very sweet!"

"Try to drink the actual drink itself, Chanyeol-ah," Lay chuckled, wiping off the milk stain off his mouth with a napkin, Chanyeol thanking him embarrassedly.

Minseok began to tell his story after settling on his seat: "This Earth works really differently than all of your Earths...” He turned at the curious eyes looking at his direction. “I was just like all of you, living through my own world of problems, trying to achieve my own dreams. It all changed when suddenly pieces of my life started to disappear. Sometimes some things would change without further notice and no one bat an eye on it.”

He took a polaroid out of his pocket and showed it to them. There was a sea of green trees in the picture. “It’s… empty.” Kai pointed.

“This was a picture of my parents… I had kept it inside my wallet, thinking it would be the only trace of them left, but it’s like the history was being changed as I continued to live.” Memories started to flash back inside his mind one by one. “Everything sounded so normal to other people when I would mention the erased memories. I thought it was just me and I had started to lose my mind but then... Then, even my friends who had thought it was nothing began to vanish. I desperately tried to find an escape way out of all this, before this… void also erased me and my close ones. After weeks of research, I found the  _ “plot hole” _ , a portal that was only mentioned in kids’ stories.”

The listeners widened their eyes with all this information, but Minseok’s eyes turned down as he continued: “Yixing was the only one I had left by my side the moment I managed to escape. I had succeeded in dodging the void; however this had not gone past the eyes of  _ The Powers That Be _ .” 

Lay leaned on the table. “Who are  _ The Powers That Be _ , exactly?”

“They are the ones who control everything that happens on this Earth. My author was truly creative in bending their rules, though.”

"What author do you keep mentioning?" Chanyeol inquired almost furiously from having a hard time understanding everything. His mind had been fried well just to understand the multiverse already.

"Have you still not realized what this Earth is?" Minseok chuckled but it was somehow bitter, as if he was envious of their ignorance. "This is the fictional writing Earth. There are endless possibilities here. My whole existence was being scraped out and my story was... erased." He sighed. "That's why my Yixing is always so sleepy. It tires him; he doesn't remember anything about himself. That evil author erased his whole history. He sometimes doesn't even remember me." Suddenly Minseok had broken into a sob. Lay instinctively placed his hand over his forearm, rubbing it to soothe him a bit. The older one turned his eyes to him slowly, gazing into them. "You remind me of his previous self. The self I've fallen in love with..." Lay didn’t have any words to answer him, so he just tried to smile.

Minseok straightened up a bit after wiping his tears. "The moment I stepped on this Earth, I was taken into the inquisition of _ The Powers That Be _ . They said that the way I had escaped through the plot hole impressed them but I was to be punished for it as well. Therefore I was assigned to be the guardian of this passageway. It is this very coffee shop we are in, merely a disguise, as you can see.” He sighed. "This is..." His hands showed around the shop. "...the result of my actions. This is what happens when you try to escape being thrown into a black hole by your own author."

Suddenly, a lot of things made sense. "Is there really no way that you could get out of this situation?" Kai asked.

Minseok paused for a few seconds, his index finger touching his chin. "There is one but... It would be too dangerous."

"That's nothing to worry about!" Chanyeol gave him a thumbs-up confidently, with a grin on his face; D.O. just snorted at his comment, looking forward to seeing him fail.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave comments if you're reading :)


	13. The Powers That Be

They were eating their slices of cake Minseok had brought them as they were waiting for their friend Suho to return from his individual mission, when suddenly the guy on their left hit his fist on the table, making Lay and Chanyeol jump on their seats. "Didn't I tell you not to see that Kim Jongin ever again?"

Chanyeol's eyebrows rose as he was pretty familiar with that voice tone; it was his own. He was about to turn to that man's direction, Kai following him, since he remembered hearing the name " _ Jongin _ " back on Lay's Earth; however Minseok stopped both of them immediately. "Would you really like to explain to him about multiple universes right now?" He whispered with a stern tone so Chanyeol shook his head quickly.

But it didn't mean they couldn't peek or incline their ears to their conversation.

The man was bearing a fancy grey suit, his hair worn tidily. His fingers moved in an impatient rhythm, pointing at his rising annoyance with the woman, probably. She averted her eyes with sorrow. "He's just my friend..."

But the man got up from his chair as he slapped the table one last time, his voice getting almost hoarse. "If you are my girlfriend you are  _ not  _ going to meet him! And no other guys either!"

Chanyeol frowned hearing his words, loudly whispering: "What the hell? Why is this guy such a prick?!" He shook his head. "This is not the way to treat a woman at all! Makes me angry."

The woman tried to make her boyfriend sit back again. This other Chanyeol was now leaning back on his chair in a nonchalant way; he had even crossed his legs, getting even more on Chanyeol's nerves. "Are you..." She was rubbing her thumb on his hand. "... _ jealous  _ of me?" Lay frowned and D.O. felt his stomach getting sick again.

"Yes..." The tall man answered shyly and made the woman break into a gentle smile. "What about it?!" He shouted at her again.

D.O. rolled his eyes tiredly. "How has she been dating this man-child all this time...?" Even this Chanyeol sitting on their table was better than this kind of abusive (and probably manipulative) sounding version of him. Remembering Minseok's words that these are only characters from someone's story, he was glad that this overly stereotypical and cliché version of him could easily be erased from history at any point – he was actually hoping for that.

Thankfully, their long awaited friend had returned just then, taking their attention away from the problematic couple at last. He approached them with swift steps and crouched on the empty chair they had pulled for him early on. Unusually, he had a grin on his lips: "I did it!"

"How did it go?" Kai asked curiously.

Suho told him about his encounter with the bodyguards and how he is some kind of a rich man in this universe. He scratched his neck nervously as he continued: "Although I felt a little bad using the man's money without his knowledge..." He motioned his hands, making a shape of a building. "Some operatives of this man fixed us a small building that's out of attention; the rent is paid beforehand so no one could evict them or whatever."

D.O. stared at Kai, getting impatient as they'd been here almost an hour now – though, he wasn't sure if time worked differently on this bizarre world. "Let's go, we can't lose any more time."

Suho turned to Lay as they all stood up: "Where are we going?"

_"_ _The Grand Inquisition Hall._ _"_

Suho's eyes widened hearing the word _ "inquisition" _ , so Chanyeol continued: "Minseok told us it's going to be  _ veeeeery  _ dangerous," He whispered to him, noticing his smaller team mate getting even more chills. Patting his back roughly, he cackled. "I can't wait!"

"Don't be so impatient to meet your death this much." D.O. expressed. Chanyeol just sighed; he had missed his D.O. from his Earth so much! He would have clung to his shoulder and then they'd run towards the action together. This version of him was just super annoying!

* * *

The trip to that hall was long and tiring; Kai couldn't teleport them either since he didn't know where to teleport them and guessing it was out of question: According to Minseok, they could end up on a different story by mistake, and getting out of there would just make the whole trip longer unnecessarily. They'd passed through lots of streets until gradually the amount of people appearing on their way lessened. Their steps slowed down when a very large, ancient looking building stood before them. There was a sign carved into the front, on the top that read four letters: " _ TPTB _ ". The air surrounding them felt as if it turned incredibly cold suddenly; Kai felt himself shiver and Suho gulped nervously.

Seeing their reactions, Minseok could feel himself second guess this thought: "Guys... are you really sure about doing this?" He tried to laugh but it only came out as a crackly, bitter chuckle. "I mean...  _ The Powers That Be _ have the capability to easily change anything in your lives, and we're here hoping that they'll help us out unconditionally."

"I know it's not too certain, but hoping for the best is all we can do right now." Kai approached him, raising his hand to hold his upper arm in a reassuring way. "We've all come here to meet you... There's no way that we would leave without you."

"It's just..." His eyes turned to Kai's, and the younger one could see the doubt in his gaze. "It's too dangerous of a bet."

Lay stepped forward. "Let's go!" Minseok still seemed unsure but he nodded. They followed him through the tall, wide gates, revealing the much murkier environment inside; their steps slowed down as they stood at the center of the whole building.

D.O. inquired: "This is it?"

"Yes..." Minseok confirmed. "The first place I had found myself on this Earth... and the place where everything ended."

"What a lovely place!" Chanyeol exclaimed sarcastically, moving his body in front of Suho who had already begun to tremble a bit. "I'm here," he said, trying to relieve the guy's heart a little. The older one nodded, straightening his back but his grip on the taller guy's arm was still tight.

"Let me do the talking." Out of a sudden, Minseok raised his arms in the air and began to shout as if he was praying for rain in a drought: "O' great content creators! Answer our pleading!" He looked at the others, signaling them to do the same. They looked at each other before falteringly raising their arms, imitating Minseok.

For a few seconds nothing happened, until the stone door closed on itself with a loud crash and the fire chandeliers around the whole area lit one by one, making Suho hide behind Chanyeol's bigger body. Behind the chandeliers, a group of people's silhouettes appeared, the shadow angle making them appear bigger than they probably were, adding on to the terrifying feel of the whole area. Their features were intelligible.

The hidden figures' fingers pointed at Minseok. "You dare come here and show us your face?" One of them roared. "We had forgiven you and even gave you a way to live with your lover but you still are not satisfied?!" Minseok kneeled; the others quickly followed him to not anger them further. Suho could feel his heartbeat BPM passing safe numbers; he realized that even Chanyeol was taken aback a little.

"Forgive me for stepping over the line... I only ask you to listen to these travelers." Hesitantly, Minseok raised his eyes. Even though he couldn't see them, he could somehow feel their gazes on him and the others. "Their quest sounds... dangerous. They really need your help."

They whispered among themselves for a while, before one of them spoke up: "He may step ahead." Minseok turned to Kai, and the younger guy tried to look –feel as confident as possible when he rose from his place to step forward.

"We need Minseok to leave this place with us." A loud discussion began between The Powers That Be again, making Kai decide to continue without getting their permission first. It was a dangerous choice, but he couldn't wait any longer: "The entire universe is in danger."

Some of them laughed at this but one of them shut them all: "Do elaborate!"

"From the moment that we've stepped on your...  _ sacred  _ ground, I know you have already realized that we all are..." He pointed at his fellow teammates. "...from different universes. So you'd know that I am not lying when I tell you our quest. I have been trying to gather up all the members of EXO, from each needed Earth to fight against the Red Force. This will... hopefully be our last fight." He tried to raise his voice to sound more convincing. "If we want to leave as victors, we need all of our members. And..." His eyes turned to Minseok who was still kneeling. "...that means he needs to join our team."

The one telling him to explain joined in on his friends' laughter. "And what do you have to offer in return?" He leaned on, appearing somehow even bigger than before. "You have nothing! Your entire Earth is in shambles, young child! Your whole family, friends are dead!"

Kai's mouth twitched; he wanted to say something in return, or cry his heart out for the truth still hurt him like hell. His knees gave way for one second. Standing up felt like a luxury at that moment, yet he did his best to remain calm the moment he felt Lay's reassuring touch on his shoulder from behind. He breathed in and out before speaking again. "You already know what I am offering to you."

With these words the others casted a glance at each other, all of them unsure of what their team leader was talking about. Suho murmured: "Guys... was this a part of the plan you've come up with while I was gone?" D.O. shook his head, his brows crossed with nervousity. It wasn't good that the guy he followed as a leader made up quick decisions like this without debating it with his team members beforehand.

The silhouettes started whispering to each other once again. The same man turned to Kai, speaking with an assertive tone: "It is accurate that we've been aware of your mission. Asking us to carry out what your brother, Suho as you have called him, requested from you was what we have foreseen." All of them turned to their direction now, seemingly reaching an agreement. "You have twisted our plot... Very well," he said. "We shall grant you your wish, for you are definitely much brave."

Minseok turned to Lay, meeting with the delight in his eyes, remembering his own husband's emotions inside this stranger. His glance wavering, he tried to focus on their success at the moment. It was all thanks to this strange traveler Kai's thoroughly selected words indeed.

The man continued to speak: "This decision was not an easy one, though." Minseok felt their eyes turn to him, so he lowered his gaze on the floor. "Your mission in this world, Minseok Kim, was highly important. We shall appoint a new one with arduous work. You better use this chance we bestowed upon you wisely."

"Do not think of us as evil beings. With mighty control over things, one cannot help but need to assert their authority this way." This other one continued: "We are impressed... and understand the need for some easement to your relentless warrior hearts." In a very haunting, yet also magical way, the silhouette's shadow brushed Chanyeol's cheek as he could do nothing but watch her finger trace his features. "Young man, I say you should try out something new..."

Chanyeol's fiddling eyes turned to Minseok nervously. "What is she talking about?!" Minseok just shrugged.

The one on her right chuckled. "You will understand soon." He turned to Kai and asked with a curious tone: "Well, what will be your next move?"

"I don't know either..." There were not many members left they had to recruit.

"Go for someone younger."

Kai nodded.  _ So, it should be Sehun.  _ If the TPTB gave this tip to him, he'd better used it.

After the team was long but gone, the silhouettes talked for the last time, before disappearing once again leaving this Earth in chaos once again. "So the young warrior is still unbeknownst of what his future beholds..." They laughed together. "It's gotten even more interesting."


	14. The Truth Unfolded

Minseok's hand brushed across Yixing's cheek softly. "I'll return soon to meet with you again, my love," he tenderly whispered next to the sleeping man's ear. "Wait for me." Minseok took his time to study his face to mark every little detail onto his brain. His husband looked ever so peaceful like he always did whenever he would be sleeping. He hoped that it would stay that way. Maybe during the time period he'd be away from this Earth and its gimmicks, Yixing would turn into a happier man with being unaware of Minseok's existence.

His thoughts drifted to his newly acquainted combination of EXO as he went downstairs. Some of the guys seemed to be aware of their superpowers; the rest of them looked like they had wandered into the wrong place at the  _ right  _ time. With this unusual bunch, Minseok could once again believe that he had a chance of changing his destiny. A surprising but not unwelcome smile crept up his lips suddenly; Kim Minseok had a purpose again.

He grabbed the napkin above the shop's counter, wiping the surface maybe for the last time, stopping only when he was sure that it was clean enough to see his own reflection. As he turned his back to observe his workplace, he found out that he was never truly happy in this place. There was nothing that truly connected to him –other than Yixing. It had only reminded of his loneliness, of his erased past and everyone he had lost along the way.

He returned to his new team; the expressions on their faces were ranging between excitement, everlasting hope towards the future and anxiety for what it could also hold. He inhaled a deep breath: "Let's go."

Through the powers of their leader, Kai, they had travelled somewhere familiar to the previous one. The city of Seoul welcomed them once again; no coffee shop appeared nearby and the sidewalk they were on was crowded with younger people. Judging by their outfits, "These students must be heading to that school," Lay pointed forward at a big building. "Do you guys think Sehun could be one of these students on this Earth?"

"Hopefully he'd be a teacher," D.O. replied, heaving a sigh. Chanyeol rolled his eyes at him; this guy was doing nothing but leaving snarky comments and sighing all the time. He wondered if this D.O. was truly as strong as he seemed to his eyes at that one time... When Chanyeol had seen him break the glass with his will alone on D.O.'s own Earth.  _ "Maybe that was really one time." _ He thought.

Suho nudged Kai's shoulder. "We can't just stand in the middle of the street. People are looking at us." The taller one turned to his right, seeing two teenage girls pointing at them, giggling at each other shyly. He shivered, remembering what happened last time when he was with Suho around a huge amount of girls.

When he could finally snap out of his spine-chilling memories, he pointed at Suho's bag. "You still have the clothes we used as our disguise when we were on Lay's Earth, right?" Suho nodded at his question. "Great, then..." He turned to look at his teammates, analyzing who could pass as a high school student the most.  _ Well _ , all of them had very young faces since they  _ were  _ young but... Xiumin somehow looked the youngest of all of them. "Xiu... Ah, should I call you Minseok?"

"I'm fine either way!" He smiled cheerfully.

Kai nodded. "I need you to go check around that school if Sehun is enrolling there." Minseok's face twitched, as if he was fighting to keep on the smile that was previously on his lips, making Kai reconsider his decision. "Or... maybe someone else would want to..."

Chanyeol raised his arm, even though his voice was loud enough to make himself noticeable. "I'll go!" He smirked, peeking at D.O. with the corner of his eye; he continued speaking with that annoying, too over-confident tone that the smaller one absolutely hated: "Since  _ I _ am the strongest among us." He waited a few seconds, getting disappointed when D.O. simply ignored him. It didn't matter much showing off when no one challenged you back.

Suho frowned at his statement: "What are you planning on doing at a public high school?"

"We don't know what may come our way!"

Minseok stepped forward suddenly, all eyes turning at his small figure. "I'll accompany Chanyeol-ssi on this mission."

Lay raised his eyebrows. "Are you sure?" Minseok smiled at his concerned tone; it reminded him of Yixing so much how his eyes grew and his lips formed a pout into a circle. Just that cute Yixing of his... except he wasn't  _ him _ .

Kai's lips were protruded as he continued: "You seemed uncertain... I won't ask you what your reasons are. You don't have to do this just because..."

"It's fine. Besides Chanyeol-ssi might get too much attention alone because of his height and well..." He opened his palm, easily creating a snowflake at the center, getting astonished stares from the team. " _ The Powers That Be _ returned me my gift. It might come in handy."

Suho shook his head slowly. "Seriously you guys, what are you planning on doing at a school?!"

* * *

On their way to the school building, Minseok and Chanyeol did their best to search between the students' faces, yet no one around them matched Sehun's distinctive features. Between the different Earths, Suho emphasized that the differences could even go as far to make their youngest teammate a dwarf, but Minseok had hoped at least the face would remain the same to give them a lead to follow. That face he had seen maybe a million times, the kid that he had seen grow up so nicely... He sighed before starting to talk: "How are we even going to find him between this many–"

His words were interrupted when a car sped up towards their direction. He heard Chanyeol calling his name, trying to pull him to his side. Minseok did his best to push his body to his right, trying to squeeze next to Chanyeol in the narrowest pavement of the world, his eyes tightly shut, already wincing from the inevitable pain, which would possibly develop on his legs. Or would it be his spine?

All his worries turned into dust once he opened his eyes, realizing he was sandwiched between the car and a young guy. Minseok quickly followed the trail of the stranger's arm, finding out that he was the one who stopped the car with his bare hands; his fingers were open wide above the now damaged car door. His eyes under his baseball cap stared behind him. Before the driver could come out from the vehicle, the guy with the cap swiftly dragged both of them behind a corner. Once he was sure that they were at a safe distance, he removed his cap.

Minseok's lashes fluttered with affection; this was a face he had missed a lot. "Sehun..." He couldn't help bringing his hand towards his face, tracing the outlines of his features as if to ascertain that he was real.

Chanyeol curiously watched his actions, but the other guy's expression turned sour and he pushed Minseok's hand a bit harshly, unintentionally shattering the older one's heart. "You can save the ' _ thank you _ 's for later." Sehun started. "What are you guys doing, strolling around there?"

"We were waiting for you." Chanyeol spoke up as he noticed Minseok seemed a little taken aback for some reason, one that he would later inquiry.

"In front of the gates?" Sehun asked with a jeering tone. "Class is about to start soon." He jokingly poked Minseok's shoulder. "Hyung, you're really not yourself. You would have been present there 10 minutes earlier at least." Minseok gulped at the word  _ "hyung" _ .

So this Earth was something really different.

He breathed in, brushing away his thoughts. "We... We were on our way to stop by the convenience store for a minute." He pulled Chanyeol's arm, leaving the younger one behind, who was confused at his brothers' strange behavior.

His steps were fast; Chanyeol didn't have any trouble keeping up with him but he was nervous that Minseok might trip at some point. He tried to slow him down, asking him what made him change his attitude all of a sudden. "Xiumin, you... You've been acting very differently today."

Minseok's trembling lips formed a flat line before he started sobbing; Chanyeol immediately put an arm around him, patting his back as Minseok wetted Chanyeol's plaid shirt with his tears. "It's okay, it's okay," he repeated several times until Minseok's sobs slowed down. "Do you want to talk about it?"

The older one nodded before they both seated themselves on a bench nearby. The street was empty now; the school bell had rung to signal that the first period had started. He wiped his tears thanking himself that he managed to escape from the youngest quickly before he could witness him like this. He started telling Chanyeol, while his eyes were focused on his idling small fingers: "Sehun was my son."

Chanyeol's eyes widened, impressed that the multiverse could still manage to come up with things like this. Somehow though, it was not really surprising, considering that his own team also spoiled Sehun like he was their baby... But he hesitated in one thing: "Like...  _ real  _ son? That you... Wait, didn't you marry Lay, or something? You guys adopted him?"

Much to his shock, Minseok shook his head. "I come from the  _ fanfiction  _ Earth, Chanyeol..."

"Yes, right. _ Anything is possible _ ," Chanyeol finished his sentence, breathing in deeply. This was a lot to take!

"Sehun was one of the things my author had erased from my history... I can't believe he was standing right in front of me like that just a minute ago. It has been so long since I've seen him, heard him, Chanyeol-ah." He broke into tears again; Chanyeol quickly rubbed his shoulder. He didn't completely figure out how these things worked on the fanfiction Earth but he sincerely wished the author of his story would write a happy ending for his friend right here and his son.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i dont even like mpreg lmaooo but i wanted to reflect the absurdity of fanfics as much as possible!! not to be taken like "bc i find it ridiculous it shouldnt be done". you guys go rock your audience !! go crazyyy!!!!


	15. What the Forest Hides

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought about what to title this chapter but I couldn't come up with anything better than this lol

"So Sehun indeed enrolls in that school?" Kai wanted to confirm if he understood it correctly. Xiumin and Chanyeol were back from their quick search mission; they couldn't bring Sehun with them. When they nodded at Kai's question, D.O. at the back heaved a sigh disappointedly, also mumbling something about his fears of dealing with a kid unfortunately coming true. Kai continued: "Then we might have to wait until his classes are over, to avoid conflict with our versions on this Earth."

Seeing everyone's tired state, Suho's face lightened up as he just thought of a great idea. "How about as we wait, we could freshen up, rest and eat a little?"

Chanyeol's lips turned upwards. "We've crossed a small forest on our way back here. Maybe we could go there? That way, we could hide away from unwanted eyes."

At times like these, Kai was grateful to have a very considerate member like Suho in their team. He showed him a smile as he nodded, agreeing. But D.O. was the one who asked the most important question: "Do we even have food with us?"

Suho rattled the bag on his back. "Xiumin- _ ssi  _ and I had packed some food before we left his Earth that would not mold through our journey."

"Xiumin... _ ssi _ ?" The strange suffix caught Kai's attention.

"Yeah," Suho giggled, placing a hand on his nape embarrassedly. "That's how they refer to other people on his Earth, apparently. I think it sounds cute!"

* * *

Chanyeol was munching on the sweet biscuits that the two had packed from  _ Coffee with Kim _ . "This thing is delicious," he meant to say but it was mostly muffled sounds that came out from his mouth.

Suho and Kai were done with their food so they were napping –together, the younger one's head was resting on the older one's shoulder while their backs were resting on a thick, old tree; Xiumin was trying to tell Lay the recipe of his favorite bread for some reason but Lay was really eager to listen and absorb everything.

"Try not to finish all of our food in one day..." D.O. cringed at his eating behavior as he took a small bite of his sandwich courteously compared to the one sitting in front of him.

The taller one sent him an annoyed glare. "You know, I was the leader of a team made of bandits." D.O. stared at him indifferently and that meant Chanyeol had to go even further to prove his worth: "I'm not that stupid, nor that much apathetic." After getting a final whiff, he put the biscuit that was between his fingers into its previous place, which was a small plastic container box. "My team meant  _ everything  _ to me."

D.O. wrapped the rest of his sandwich and placed it next to Chanyeol's water bottle. "But we are not  _ your  _ team, right?" When Chanyeol couldn't give an answer, D.O. smirked and continued with a raised eyebrow. "Don't worry; you guys aren't  _ mine _ , either."

Chanyeol watched as D.O. took the rest of the food with him after saying his final words and returned the items back into Suho's bag. " _ Ughhhh _ ," he groaned for a long minute. "Why can't he just be nicer?!" He turned to his front, seeing that his bottle was also gone. "Why did he take it without even asking me?!" But the next second, he realized that it wasn't really necessary any longer.

Almost to the point of sprinting, he tried to get as far away as possible from the rest of the guys. " _ Ugh _ , I hate having to do this." Chanyeol scanned the area to find the most secluded area amongst huge piles of bushes. "Please, please, no one come here!"

He was almost done with his business when he heard some swishing from the leaves around him. Quickly zipping up his pants, he shouted: "Who are you?" He looked around to see if he could spot anyone but no one responded to his calls. "It's probably just the wind." Deep down he knew that these were the famous last words of many characters from the horror stories Baekhyun would tell during their campfires, but he was not one of those guys. He was Chanyeol, the brave fighter of EXO.

That's why he didn't return to their spot like many would (the example in his mind being Suho) and instead started walking deeper into the forest. He could hear someone walking, but it was barely audible.  _ "Could it be a lost kid?" _ Chanyeol thought, getting nervous for the child's safety.

Suddenly, the glimpse of an animal on its four legs met with his gaze; it was chasing another one with marvelous speed. Chanyeol crouched behind the nearest tree with panic, doing his best to blend in with the grass. He tried to peek, which resulted to no avail but then a howl reached his ears.

"A...  _ wolf _ ."

Okay, he might be the team's brave fighter, but deliberately walking into an animal fight was not something a wise man would do. He just told D.O. that he wasn't that stupid, right? Then he should probably not do something that would disprove this fact that soon.

He began to walk back on the path that he came all the way down there, trying to make the least sound possible. His steps were quick so it didn't take him long until he could spot the area where he previously took care of his business. It was so close!

But fate didn't favor him that day it seemed, because he was now having a stare contest with a very, very big wolf.

It was approaching him very slowly; Chanyeol could respond just as slow by stepping backwards. His heart was beating so fast that it almost broke free out of his cage. He didn't know if he should keep his eyes on the animals or just look away. What was the secure option? His mind wasn't responding. And to top it all, his back hit a tree – a not so tall one that he could climb on. There was nowhere else to escape now.

_ "Well, if push comes to shove..." _

He clenched his fists, ready to attack as a last resort when he heard some noise coming from their camping area. The voice sounded similar to Suho: "You said you two were eating around here just now?"

"Yeah, and when I came back, he wasn't here." And that was D.O. speaking for sure! He could have asked for their help if only D.O. wasn't there to witness it! It would just hurt his pride for him to see him being weak like that.

Somehow he felt his mind getting eased a little and his problem-solving skills returned to turn their gears again slowly. His hand searched for a loose branch over the tree; his fists tightened around it once the wolf was in the closest distance. Swinging it in front of him, he tried to step a bit to the right and slowly like that, he hoped that he could escape before hurting the animal –well, before it probably hurt him.

Unfortunately, his foot got stuck on a rock that made him lose his balance and the branch he thought he was holding so firmly flew out from his palm, betraying him. His body was on the ground, and the wolf was  _ weirdly enough _ just walking towards him instead of running. The least he could do was to shout, and raise his hands in front of himself instinctively, planning to immobilize him from his neck when it would try to bite his forearm...  _ or something. _

He was absolutely not expecting a set of flames to shoot out from his own hands.

"What the hell?!" Chanyeol shouted as the wolf tried to escape from the fire but it had caught into its fur already.

Its' cries as it ran away must have grabbed the attention of the ones still at the camping area: "A fire broke out?!" Suho sounded nervous; Chanyeol could point out that he was rushing into the scene. "Chanyeol!" He shouted again and again, trying to find him at all costs.

"Over here!" Since the animal danger seemed to have passed, he could try to call out for the others before the surrounding fire burnt him too.

Chanyeol was listening to Suho's footsteps to locate the distance between them as he waited. For some reason his steps slowed down when he saw where he was all this time: "Chanyeol...?" His voice was hesitant as he stood a few meters away from him; Chanyeol frowned as to why he was taken aback like this. Was there something bleeding and he wasn't aware of it?

His eyes turned over at his body and he realized he had been burning at the center of all the fire. Yet the strange thing was, he wasn't feeling any kind of heat.

Somehow he was immune to it.


	16. The Fire and The Wolf

Suho immediately created a huge amount of water to splash onto the flames, putting them all out. The air around them was really smoky, making it hard to breathe. Suho approached the younger while coughing, shaking his hand in front of him to clear the air a little. Much to his shock, Chanyeol’s skin was still aflame until he fainted in the end; Suho guessed that it could be from his sudden powerful water attack towards his body. D.O. had followed him from behind, grasping in the situation at hand: “So Chanyeol finally acquired his superpowers now?”

“We don’t know if he was the one who had caused this fire,” Suho disagreed while trying to wash the younger one’s face with smaller drops of water to wake him up. Along this journey with Kai, Suho had thought that little by little he was getting more confident with his powers yet when the moment he needed to be calm the most arrived, he still continued to stagger. He sighed, shaking his head and looked at the younger more carefully. Somehow, Chanyeol’s body was clean just like it was the last time Suho had seen him earlier that day, as if nothing happened even after being exposed to all that smoke just now. “Though, I have to admit… everything that happened reminds me of the Chanyeol from my own Earth...” He thought aloud; D.O. slowly nodded in agreement. “Fire never hurt him…”

Soon enough, Chanyeol let out a cough before finally opening his eyes. Suho was supporting his back with his hand when Chanyeol tried to raise his upper body. With a concerned tone he asked: “Where’s the wolf?” His voice was raspy, so Suho handed him a small bottle of water he brought along with him.

Turning his head to the other one standing a meter away from the two of them, “Now that he said it, I remember hearing a wolf cry before I was too appalled with the flames,” Suho stated.

“We have more important things to discuss,” D.O. announced, releasing his previously crossed arms in front of his chest to show around the burnt grass of the forest. “Do you have any idea as to what could possibly cause this whole occasion?”

Chanyeol’s eyes widened, remembering what had happened just before the wolf attacked him. The bursting of flames out of his bare hands… “ _ Yeaaah _ , about that…” He scratched his hair. “I think I was so nervous that I may have seen an illusion.” His eyes glanced at D.O.’s direction. “As much as I hate to admit it…”

“You weren’t seeing an illusion,” Suho explained. “I think… you might have just awakened your powers.” Nudging the younger one’s arm, he raised him from the ground. His arm was linked to his as they started following D.O.’s trail towards the camping area.

“But how could it happen all of a sudden?” He paused for a second before clicking his index finger in the air. “Ah! Right!  _ The Powers That Be _ ! One of them told me to try something new, right? This must be what they were talking about!”

“If you could use it properly without burning the precious soil…” D.O. snickered. “I guess that would finally make you someone more or less essential to our team.”

“I bet you’re just scared that I might burn you too, huh?” Chanyeol tried to ignite a little flame on his fingertip, but it went out of his hold very easily. The flame started to spread on the ground when all of a sudden that same area was quickly smothered with the dirty soil which securely stopped the fire. D.O. hadn’t even turned to look at it but somehow Chanyeol knew that he was responsible for that. It wasn’t too surprising that this small looking man contained so much power hidden inside him and it would take the taller one a little while to explore everything about the guy.  _ “Ugh, today is not my day for sure,” _ Chanyeol thought; looking above, he realized that they were already half-way down the road when he remembered something. “The wolf…”

“What about the wolf again..?”

“Before you guys showed up, I really encountered a wolf. It was approaching me but I don’t think it was actually thinking of attacking me.”

D.O. sighed. “Now this I’d believe to be one of your illusions.”

“No, listen,” Chanyeol protested, holding on Suho’s forearm as the younger thought he’d be more willing to acknowledge his words. “First of all, it never showed me its teeth nor did it grit at me or anything. And, and… Even when I was defenseless at the ground, it took its time to approach me. Wouldn’t it just jump on me if he wanted a piece of me?” Suho and D.O. stared at each other without saying anything, making Chanyeol’s shoulders droop with despair. “Fine! I’ll go look for it myself. Don’t try to stop me!” He said as he started running away.

“Chanyeol!” Suho had called out to him, but he was already gone.

D.O. pulled his arm, stopping him from following the taller one. “Let him go. The wolves may teach him a thing or two about staying as a pack.”

* * *

The only way of finding a wolf Chanyeol knew was howling, but of course he wasn’t going to do that and get the attention of other wolves he was not interested in. Only after a few minutes of strolling down the misty, hushed forest he managed to come to the conclusion that maybe leaving the others’ side was a bad idea. He could already imagine D.O. laughing from behind at his misery.  _ “I wish we were still at the fictional writing Earth and I could just pray to TPTB for them to help me locate that wolf.” _

Another wave of rustling sounds caught his attention again on the same day. The first time this happened, he wandered right into a “trap”, right? He knew this time he should have escaped before a new danger flaunted its ugly face to him again but the curiosity got the best of him, and soon he found himself hiding behind a thick bush.

A cough reached his ears… A human cough!

So it could really be just a child that was lost in the woods, just like he guessed earlier! He tried to locate where the kid could be from behind the bushes. There was a body lying on the ground above a bunch of dried leaves compiled at the base of a tree. The body moved with another cough, rustling the leaves. Chanyeol rushed out from his hideout, ignoring the dangers that may be around them in the middle of a forest he knew that was crowded with wolves.

When he came closer, he found out that it wasn’t a child but a more grown-up person. The guy was lying in a fetal position and was  _ very _ naked. Quickly taking out his own (precious, black leather) jacket, Chanyeol did his best to cover the stranger’s body. “Are you okay?!” He asked with apprehension, shaking him, but it all changed when Chanyeol turned the guy around to take a look at his face: “Sehun?!”

It was the same guy he and Xiumin had seen earlier today: He still was rocking that platinum blond hair above that angry expression on his face. The guy wasn’t asleep at all: “What the hell did you use to throw fire at me?”

“I- I didn’t even see you since we met before the school gate today!”

Sehun narrowed his eyes. “Why do you act like you don’t know that I…?” He looked around before continuing, as if to make sure that they were alone: “Chanyeol, the wolf you were so scared of… was me!”

“I wasn’t scared at all!” He stopped before taking in the realization. “Wait, you’re saying you’re a  _ werewolf _ ?!”

Sehun nodded. “I told you like a week ago, how can you not remember such important information?” His lips formed a childish pout: “I even told you to look for my whiter fur around the ears to understand if it’s me or not…” He stared at him for a few seconds. “Why were you here during lunch break anyway? And without your uniform at it…”

“Sehun, I’m…” Chanyeol shook his head. “We’ve got a lot to talk about but it will have to wait until later. We should return to the others.” Sehun raised an eyebrow at his usage of the word  _ “others” _ , curious as to who he was talking about. “Can you walk?”

“Yeah… Fortunately for me, I managed to put out the fire quickly. But the damage’s been done.” He showed him the deep burn on his leg.

Chanyeol slapped his forehead, feeling extremely guilty. Having superpowers sounded cool… when you actually knew how to use them and not hurt innocent people around you. “I’m sorry…” He helped Sehun get up but something he didn’t wish to see crossed his eyes. “Uh, hold on to my shoulder for a second.” Looking in another direction and fumbling while taking his jacket back off of Sehun’s shoulders, Chanyeol gestured to him to wrap it around his waist. “Do you just keep ripping off your clothes each time you transform?” He groaned.

“Normally, I take them off and put them in my backpack…” He thanked Chanyeol when he was done, and placed his arm on the older one’s shoulder to get his support as the two started walking. “I actually was trying to warn you when I came to you.”

“I thought you were trying to attack me.”

“I wasn’t… but the other guys could have.” Sehun added: “You peed in their territory.”

Chanyeol slapped his forehead in regret once again.


	17. Entering the Pack

Chanyeol was still carrying Sehun to their camping site, “You’re probably not gonna believe me but the fire was absolutely unintentional.” he tried to explain that he was completely unsure of how he’s supposed to use his new superpowers.

Sehun let out a sound to show him his consideration, but he still mumbled out a few more words: “It really hurts when the person you are trying to protect is the one who attacks you though.”

“Okay, okay. I’m sorry.  _ For the zillionth time _ .” He raised his head and met with a concerned expression on Suho’s face behind those glasses that had already become completely familiar to Chanyeol. “Ah, we’ve arrived.”

With his older brother’s help, Chanyeol laid him on a soft, thin fabric he also previously sat on while resting earlier in the day. Immediately rushing near them, Lay crouched next to him, closing his eyes to concentrate. Sehun watched him brush his hand above his leg softly and just in seconds, the scar was completely gone. “It’s… It’s as if it’s never even been there.” The youngest touched his leg as if to confirm that he wasn’t dreaming.

He looked around, observing each of them. Yixing was looking at him with concern and his hand was still resting on his knee as if to comfort Sehun’s worries about his health;  _ Jongin _ and  _ Junmyeon _ were on the other side.  _ Kyungsoo _ , Chanyeol and Minseok were all standing but the oldest one was standing a little farther. They looked exactly like the brothers he’s known through all these years, but there was also something different about them – and it wasn’t just the dramatic wardrobe change.

“You’re not from this Earth, are you?”

Hearing his words, Lay moved a bit further away, turning to Kai to let him do the explanation that was obligatory with each new addition to their team, but before he could act, Chanyeol replied: “And you are a werewolf.” Lots of heads turned to his direction; he simply shrugged. They weren’t the only supernatural thing going on here!

Suho fixed his glasses; his lips turning upwards: “So my theory that you could be related to the incident Chanyeol had with the wolf was correct!”

Ignoring them, Kai proceeded with the explanation: “Sehun, I need you to listen to me carefully,” he grabbed Sehun’s slim fingers into his tight hold and looked right into his wavering eyes. “I woke up one day to find out that everything about my Earth was taken from me… but what’s worse is that I learnt that this same thing is going to happen to the other Earths as well. The Red Force… They aren’t going to stop until they destroy each one of us on every Earth. We need to come together and stand against them.” He showed Sehun his wayfinder. “This takes me wherever I need to get my members from and this time, it brought me to you. We need you to stop the Red Force before it’s too late. We need you in our team, Sehun.”

While he was trying to digest in the bizarre science mumbo jumbo Kai just threw at him, D.O. stepped closer: “Why did you attack Chanyeol?”

With this sudden harsh implication, the expression on the youngest one’s face turned sour. Coming to his rescue, Chanyeol raised his arms in the air, shaking them desperately: “No! No! He wasn’t! Sehun was only trying to warn me!”

But this didn’t hold D.O. back at all. “About what…?” He leaned down, lessening the gap between his and Sehun’s face, most likely to intimidate him.

“The other wolves may have attacked me.”

“Why?”

Chanyeol scratched his neck; he didn’t want to tell him anything more than that – especially the most embarrassing part but… he was having a hard time coming up with anything other than the obvious fact that was the instinctive defensive behavior wolves had against humans. Thankfully, Sehun interrupted their banter to simply put it: “He trespassed into their territory.”

D.O. raised an eyebrow but he let it go, fixing his posture. “Why didn’t you stop your friends?”

It was Sehun’s turn to get quieter. He shifted in his place: “We aren’t exactly on too close terms with each other.” He turned his eyes at Kai. “I don’t belong to their pack. Or…  _ any of them _ , really.”

“Well…” His same age friend smiled. “We’re all humans but… you could technically call us a  _ pack _ , right?” Sehun stared at him. “We really could use your help.” The youngest looked like he was fascinated earlier but now his eyes had wavered away, creating a contrast with the reaction Kai had in mind. But… it was completely reasonable; they literally had just met anyway. He tried to smile to reassure him: “Of course, I won’t force you to do things you don’t want to…” He still remembered what happened between him and Suho on Lay’s Earth. “We’ll have to find another way.”

Impatiently, Chanyeol was running through several ideas in his mind to try to convince the youngest to join them. He was just about to approach them but something else caught his eye: Xiumin who still was standing rather far away with his arms crossed in front of his chest. A noticeably uneasy expression covered his features, something Chanyeol hadn’t come in terms with to see this frequently today, but also something that he could pinpoint exactly why –the confession he received from him this morning was still fresh inside his mind. He cleared his throat before beginning to speak: “I think he needs to rest a little and think about it.” D.O. looked as if he was going to protest, but Chanyeol interrupted him with a very,  _ very _ loud voice before the other one could let out anything: “I need you to teach me!”

It was silent for a few seconds. Yixing turned to Kai as if to ask what they have missed out, Suho whispering that he will let them know in a short while soon. D.O. frowned; he was taken aback. “…You truly request my assistance…?”

Chanyeol sighed; he reminded himself that this was for his friend and for the greater good – they had to leave this Earth with Sehun as soon as possible to travel to the next one! “Yes! Actually,” He looked around. “I need you  _ all _ to teach me how to use my new powers!” As he expected, several heads turned to his direction with surprised looks on their faces. At least this was going to be fun! “Let’s go here,” he pointed at his right, a narrow path between tall trees leading to somewhere a lot wider. “There’s more space available there so we can train more comfortably!” He grabbed Suho from his arm, raising him from where he was crouching to pull him away, before nudging Kai’s butt with his shoe – that the younger one looked offended at – and pushing D.O. in front of him. He only had to point to the other side with his head for Lay to understand that Xiumin needed some alone time with Sehun. Before he slipped his body between the two trees that guarded the entrance, he placed his hand on Xiumin’s shoulder, in which the older one returned a kind, sincere smile.

After it was only the two of them, Minseok breathed in, closing his eyes and repeating encouragement words inside his mind. Slowly approaching him, he could feel Sehun observing his each step. When he crouched next to him, the younger one smiled: “Finally,  _ hyung _ ,” he beamed. “I was wondering why you were standing so far away the whole time.” Sehun’s eyes searched for an answer but Minseok didn’t really know how to explain it which made Sehun believe even more what he feared to be true. “Are you… afraid of me?”

This wasn’t a very foreign concept to the youngest one. He had already lost his parents at a young age, and his only friends were from his orphanage; his older brothers, the ones bearing the same names and same features as these guys… Yet they were all human, and they were unaware of Sehun’s other half. Whenever he would turn into that creature, people ran away from him in fear. Even people he loved… and claimed they loved him back did the same. The other side of him couldn’t find a home between the werewolves either. In their words, “someone so weak and a  _ crossbred _ had no place in their packs”.

Minseok straightened up, immediately shaking his head. “No way! It’s not like any of us are from backgrounds where people would consider to be ordinary.” Noticing that Sehun was curious, he continued: “You know, I am from an Earth where everything – and I mean,  _ literally _ everything, is quite possible. The people only need to think of it, and that will become a reality.” He looked at him affectionately. “So you turning into a supernatural creature  _ sometimes _ isn’t weird to me at all!” He let out a chuckle to lessen the remaining tension in the mood.

Sehun raised his eyes back with relief. So his Minseok  _ hyung _ was still that same reliable brother he always had been.

The older one fought with the teardrops trying to get formed in the corners of his eyes upon seeing Sehun’s smile after all that time. He thanked himself for making the decision to continue, to not give up all that time. Seeing his smile again, even though he was not the same, soothed his yearning heart a little. He could make do with something as small as this, even if it’d be for a limited time.

There were still many things to be answered on Sehun’s mind though: “What about the others?”

Minseok’s gaze wandered at the sky. “I had seen many, many different realities, yet the only ones who tried to get to me were these guys. I also am fairly new to this; this is actually my first stop! So me and you… we are kind of the same here.” He shifted in his place, leaning in. “Apparently, Suho was the first one to join Kai. I learned from Chanyeol that they even rescued D.O., along with his team from an experiment site!”

“Woah…” Sehun looked bedazzled. “How about… Yixing hyung? What he did to me was incredible!”

The sound of dried prairie grass on the ground being crushed reached their ears; Yixing was unsure if he really wanted to join in, but since Minseok flashed a gentle smile at him, he thought it should be fine by now to stop eavesdropping and just revealing himself. First, he leaned to his right to pop his head out behind those same trees that separated the two from the rest of them. Approaching them rather shyly, his hands were connected on the back of his waist. “Yeah, I can’t believe either that I can do such things now,” he started. “I’m not like any of these guys… and I don’t mean it in a way of belittling them. In fact…” Yixing giggled innocently, covering his mouth with his hand. “…I was the least interesting one of the bunch! No super powers, no aliens. The Earth I knew was just full of ordinary people, and the space was still a mystery. Until that day… the day Kai visited me and lent me his hand to see so much more. Now, everything I’ve left back on my Earth… they all seem very small…” Silently, he opened his hand and stared at his palm. “That experiment site we went to get D.O. was where I was given my powers… I still can’t wrap my head around everything that happened there, but I guess, a part of it continuing to be a mystery is what makes it more appealing, don’t you think?”

“Just like this journey itself, what’s coming next is still a riddle to be solved,” Suho burst into the scene after getting a nod from Minseok to go on and bring everyone together again. As the rest of them slowly approached, he continued: “I might make mistakes but my heart is rest assured that they…” he showed the team. “…will be next to me to help me.”

“Strange things keep happening through this journey,” Minseok stated, sighing before he continued: “and I know this will sound really weird but I feel like I have to be honest with you… with everyone.” It was finally time to get everything off his chest. “You guys already know that Yixing, who you refer to as  _ Lay _ was my husband on my Earth. The reason I’ve acted discomposed with all of you today was because…” His head returned to the youngest still sitting on the same place. “…Sehun was…  _ our _ son.”

Minseok watched the others as they changed stares between each other; they looked sort of astounded… but they were still taking it very naturally after everything they’ve been through. Hell, even Yixing had never even shown any signs of discomfort since the first time Minseok had mentioned him that.

These guys were truly one of a kind.

Sehun grinned: “I’m a werewolf, Minseok hyung. How weird can I find this to be?”

Minseok shut his eyes tight, but the thin lines of tears were already running down his cheeks. With the back of his hand he wiped them away. He’d been too emotional lately, maybe because he was feeling too comfortable around them… but it didn’t bother him a bit.

The youngest one turned to Kai: “…Although I couldn’t fathom as to how you guys are from different…  _ Earths _ ?” He wasn’t sure of which word he was supposed to be using. Those fancy ones Kai had used earlier when explaining it to him had already passed away from his mind.

Suho stepped in instead; he looked very excited to define the concept: “With each different choice made by individuals, with each different choice, there is another universe. They are all at the same place, but also not. I believe Kai can teleport by vibrating at different frequencies to travel between time and space…?”

Suho wanted to confirm everything with Kai, but the latter just shrugged: “Yeah, I guess that would be it. It comes naturally to me.” Sehun nodded, finally understanding a little. “I want to ask you something too. When I mentioned Red Force, you didn’t seem to react at all. Do they not exist on this Earth?”

The youngest one thought for a moment. “Hmm… I can only think of the detergent brand.” The others looked at him blankly. “You know… the one with the red color? …Comes with liquid or tablet versions…?”

Chanyeol giggled, and he could swear even D.O. almost burst into laughter before covering his mouth. This Earth was really different, in a positive way. He couldn’t help but envying the inhabitants.

“Most of us know the Red Force to be evil, and like I mentioned before… if we don’t stop them, your Earth will be erased along with others.” Kai stood up, offering him his hand. “How about giving our pack a shot?” He was basically holding in his breath, counting each second passed…

…Until Sehun accepted his hand.


	18. Acceptance

Yixing’s eyes fluttered; since the sun rays were directed at him straightly, his hand was covering his vision from a distance before he slowly opened them. The travel to the next Earth on the search for Chen was slightly more rocky then the previous ones for some reason. The best way to describe how it felt would be that as if someone grabbed them all and threw them onto the ground with a sprinkler, Yixing thought.

Holding his back, he tried to sit on his legs while he was scanning the others; they all seemed fine, except one of them was missing. He walked on his knees to approach Kai, shaking his arm to wake him up. “Ugh…” A groan escaped Kai’s lips before his eyes met with Yixing’s. “Are you alright?”

Of course, the first thing he’d asked wasn’t even about him. Yixing nodded, helping him stand up. “Everyone seems to be fine, but…” Kai’s eyebrows arched with tiredness mixed with desperation. Almost every time, there had to be something going wrong! “… D.O. is nowhere to be found.”

Maybe it was a little careless, but Kai knew D.O. was levelheaded enough to take care of himself, so he could rest assured at least a little than he’d be with the others. The younger one looked around, noticing a building near the shore. After getting everyone awake, Kai thought it would be a good idea to just teleport to their destination (not the exact place but somewhere near to avoid scaring locals away). Kai ordered them to split into two groups; but before any of them could even operate, a blond man appeared in front of him around the corner.

His voice was chirpy: “Oh, what are you guys doing here?” Kai wanted to thank the heavens for this beautiful coincidence they had brought out for him today. It was Chen! Perhaps for the first time through their journey, their search for that specific member had been appreciatively short! However, before he could get a word out, the guy took a hold on his wrist, pulling him near: “C’mon, let’s meet with the rest!”

He was taking him upstairs the vividly colored building; a few of the rest of the team was following their leader’s trail. Kai tried to slow him down by piling up force on his feet, also making the others collide with each other as he abruptly stopped the blond one. “Hold on!” Chen turned to him, that wide grin still evident on his lips until it started to disappear once he took a secondary, good look of the whole group.

Something… wasn’t making any sense.

His head turned to his back. His friends were still sitting on the table. Then, his eyes returned their gaze towards the newcomer Kai again but this time, there was a confused expression on Chen’s face: "Why are they two of you?"

His baffled tone had taken the attention of someone else in the area: The other Kai who had been waiting for his friend to return with his legs laid over the table in a nonchalant way. Raising his head, he narrowed his eyes to see a bit clearer, and then a grin appeared on his face; he chuckled as if this strange event only made him even more amused. "Man,” he elongated the vowel, brushing his dark locks in the meantime. “I'm still seeing things." He said with a cheerful tone to the guy sitting in front of him.

That guy started to speak and Kai standing at the entrance realized that it was none other than Suho, but on this Earth, even his leader’s attitude was so laid back that it was kind of starting to get annoying! "Don't worry, I'm preparing this for myself, not you," the man expressed as he mixed up a blue colored drink on his glass. "You've already had too much anyway.” He scanned their surroundings for a short while before reassuring the younger: “There's only one of you here and that's more than enough, believe me."

The other Kai pouted as he turned his head in the same direction but this time, just like Suho had just told him, there was no one standing there. It made more sense this way, right? It was possible that he would suffer some minor side effects… He shrugged before closing his eyes and chewing again on the little candy in his mouth.

Little did he know that the person he saw surely existed and before they were noticed again, he had pulled on Chen’s arm to hide them both. "What was he talking about?!" With a loud whisper, Kai inquired nervously about the stuff the other two had just talked about over there.

Chen frowned, shaking Kai's arms off himself. He eyed Kai from head to toe before replying: "Why are you acting like this?! Stop being such a killjoy..." With this answer, a sigh escaped Kai’s lips; he wished that whatever it was that made the EXO of this Earth act so out of it like this would be gone with a punch on the face but he doubted that it would work. Whatever it was, its effect was impeccably strong. However, Chanyeol impatiently approached them both from behind, pushing Kai away a little so he could shake Chen to get him some sense. The other one was still whining though: "Stop, dude! What's wrong with you two?!"

Fortunately Suho stopped Chanyeol, afraid that this kind of force on him would make the small remains of Chen's consciousness wither away as well. "Will you be able to listen to us for a bit?"

Chen seemed like he'd be a little bit more cooperative after hearing his reassuring tone; he nodded. "In fact, I am still curious to hear about what I asked earlier." He pointed at Kai with his chin. "What's with you? How can you be in two different places at once?" His eyes narrowed down. "Did you also master the art of cloning while we weren't aware or something?!"

Here came the moment of explanation. "We need you to come with us."

Suho volunteered to take the turn to tell him this time, disburdening the younger one. "Chen, we need your help. We've all come together from different Earths to help stop the Red Force from destroying the multiverse. That's why there are two of him. Two… of all of us actually!"

Kai's fingers tightened the faint hold of Chen's over his wrist. "Listen, you guys seem..." The members of the EXO of this Earth looked like they were in perfect physical condition, yet... They also looked pretty idle right now. Judging by Lay’s and Sehun’s Earth, it was pretty possible that the Red Force wasn’t a threat to their Earth as well... at least, it wasn’t yet. "... _ Unbusy _ . And we don't have much time left; we've unfortunately wasted a lot. There’s always that voice reminding me that they could appear out of nowhere without any warning.” He sighed, letting go of his hold. “It won't be long before they visit your Earth as well! We need every second we can save. So… here I am, asking you to please join us."

The blue eyes of the one standing at the middle wavered between the three of them looking at them with anticipation. He was given too much information in such a short period and it didn’t feel good to be put on the spot… but they all sounded serious too. He was about to say something until his eyes instead turned at someone else standing behind them.

One of the youngest of the blond man’s own, Kai, was pointing at his counterpart with a huge grin on his face. "So I was right! I knew it!" The one unfamiliar with this Earth slowly turned to his back; he was scared of the reaction he was going to face. It was always either shock or fear. However, that same guy in his very loose, thin white shirt put an arm on his shoulder, pulling him closer to his chest confidently: "We gotta' show you around!"

Once again, Kai stomped on his feet, making his languid counterpart stop from moving him any further away. "Did you not hear a word of what I just said?! I said we don't have enough time! If you're not going to come with me, just say so! So we can leave without wasting any more of it!" He was almost out of breath when he finished his speech.

The Kai of this Earth pulled his lips lower, showing an awkward face. He and Chen exchanged looks, as if they knew what they needed to do exactly without saying anything. "Suho!" He called out for the guy still mixing his drink at the back casually. "Can I borrow your drink for a short moment?"

*

His plastic jacket in the hold of his left hand, D.O. had been strolling through the forest for a while now. He knew that maybe he should have awakened the others before coming here, but something in there just kind of pulled him in. He had gotten curious.

The forest consisted of lots of tall trees, ones that he had never had the chance to see before in his life. Or… he just had no memory of it. Somewhere deep inside his mind, he still carried in his mind those tiny fragments of memories from a previous life.  _ His _ previous life, before the Red Force took them away from their home as small kids, and caged them all inside their several facilities, going through numerous trials, tests to be the best…. That faint image of his mother’s hold as she bravely tried to fight against their soldiers was the one thing that still kept the memory alive.

Maybe he should have let go of that memory a long time ago. What good did trying to stand against them do to his mother in the end?

His steps continued until he came across a small pond on his right where the trees kindly opened up a path towards. Slowly, he approached on the edge, crouching as he took off his white boots and placing his jacket above them –Xiumin wasn’t the only one who was a little too careful about being clean.

The touch of the water was cold but very much welcomed by him as it felt fresh. It made him feel alive.

The wind breezed through his eyelids, making him raise his head a little and finally notice the beautiful scenery lying before him. His train of thoughts returned again, to his mother, to his friends… and reminded him that he left them all behind somewhere in time. He nodded to himself; it was best not to form any new connections from now on since he was sure that they were going to slip past through his fingers next time again.

The sound of nearing footsteps grabbed his attention, and he realized he was staring at his counterpart of this Earth.  _ “This never stops being this bizarre,” _ he thought as he also tried to come up with some words had he ever needed to give any kind of explanation to this guy.

However, the guy just pointed at him. “You’re on my spot.” D.O. didn’t want to get up, so he just swiped above the ground to a little more to the left. The guy thanked him shortly, and opened his book once he seated himself on his precious spot. He started to read but the intense stare he could feel over his body distracted him. “Do you have something to tell me or…?” Looking at him more carefully, he finally noticed: “Hey… You’re—”

“You seem so comfortable.” D.O. blurted out; his eyes only widened once he realized he spoke his thoughts out loud. Recalling what the other had asked him, he answered: “I mean…” At that moment, he realized how hard it was to tell someone that you came from another Earth on a mission to save every Earth in the universe without sounding like a total maniac, but… This guy didn’t really freak out once he saw his face, so there was still hope. “I came from another Earth…”

His counterpart raised an eyebrow. “You did…?”

D.O. nodded at him. “…with some other guys.”

This time the other one frowned: “You travel between Earths with people you don’t even know that very well?”

D.O. sighed. “It’s more complicated than it sounds.”

The one sitting next to him nodded slowly, closing his book after bookmarking where he left it. “What did you mean when you said I looked comfortable?”

D.O.’s eyes turned to the scenery again. It fit so well with the rest of the atmosphere of this Earth: Full of greenery, light and bustling with life. Tranquil. Just like that guy… “Everything looks so peaceful here.”

“How is it around your place?”

His eyes turned down to the ground: “Never had the chance to explore it very well.” On that second, he realized something else. “Do you know about the  _ Red Force _ at all?”

The guy shrugged. “Sounds like something neat.” D.O. wanted to curse at him… but he wasn’t at fault at all. In fact, his counterpart was nothing more than lucky. If it wasn’t for their inevitable demise that waited for not only them but all the EXO, he could even maybe plan on staying on this Earth forever. His own team was safe on another Earth anyway... He had enough trust in them to make it through hard times. D.O. was always best without taking other people’s responsibility, right? “What are you so afraid of…?”

“What?”

He rested his head above his hand he curled up. “I can sense your aura. You… You’re very petrified.”

If that tall, annoying idiot was here, he would be so delighted to hear what he just said. D.O. let out a single wheeze; it was rather a colder one. “I’m not afraid of anything.” He rolled his eyes.

“It’s not because of that Red Force you told me just now… It’s more…  _ personal _ .” The guy placed his book next to himself, concentrating more on D.O. now. “You… You’ve closed yourself in so deep. What do you want to hide this much?”

“Nothing. I just don’t like people burying their noses into things that don’t concern them.” He turned to him, staring into his eyes again. “You’re not the only one who can read off people. And your aura… It ticks me off.”

“Sorry to make you mad but the Red Force just doesn’t exist in our world. Maybe it’s somewhere else. I don’t care.”

D.O. rolled his eyes again. “You should. They’re going to erase every one of us on every single Earth.” He shook his head, quickly getting up. “You know what; I’m wasting time on here. I wanted to enjoy a little bit of peace without the rest of them but you had to disturb me too.”

Suddenly his counterpart held his wrist tightly, stopping him. “You keep lying to yourself, don’t you?” D.O. tried to push his fingers away, but his counterpart shared his power of strength it seemed. “You keep mentioning the endgame but you still went on with this mission with them. If you don’t believe even just a little bit that you will succeed, why do you still keep on going?”

His fingers slipped past through his. This was something he himself was wondering all this time. Maybe there was still a small piece of hope left deep inside his heart. “There are people I need to return to when everything is over… I want to, but I’m not sure if I should.” His knees gave away and he crouched next to him again, and the other one was more than eager to listen to this traveler.

The bond he had developed between his members was something born out of necessity. They only had each other to trust under those circumstances. Even though D.O. would trust them with his life, he wasn’t sure if that was alright for him to build such a burden on them.

“I don’t know if they really want me or if I just selfishly want them all to myself because of how… how lonely I truly am.”

“I don’t think you are though.” He interrupted as D.O. curiously waited for him to explain, but his counterpart just smiled at him. “You can’t expect yourself to be able to bear the weight of two sides of a relationship. You are also a human. And you deserve to be cared for, to be… loved. Even though it would bring any kind of harm for them, know that this was surely something they were in for, from the beginning. So, go! Return to them and see it for yourself.” His eyes turned to the sky. “I think there are some more people that are in need of your hasty return right now as well.”

D.O. got up again but this time more confidently and sure of himself. “Thanks for helping me out… whatever your reason was.”

“Hey, I like my spot alone!” He chuckled.

D.O. pressed his lips as he looked away. “You are a better version of me.”

“Not better. Just one that accepted his feelings.” Before D.O. could go on his way, he whistled at him, throwing him something small: A round candy, white with colored lines surrounding it. Before he could observe it any further, the painful headache returned and he collapsed onto the ground as the images started playing inside his mind.

His own friends.

The new team.

He watched as the vivid color of cyan dyed them all. They were all sharing smiles… yet the smiles on their faces looked artificial at best.

Suddenly, their faces started to grow old and finally decay before it all became a hungry void, impatient to absorb every living thing, including him.

D.O. gasped as his consciousness returned from this frightening vision; his hands had grabbed the soil on the ground while he was still unconscious. He heard his counterpart giggle and whisper: “Go save your team.”


	19. One Last Time

Kai may have known how it felt to teleport from a different world to another; but it was unlike any other experience to chill among the clouds. Gratefully, he wasn’t too high up in the sky either, where it would get a lot colder in the atmosphere. It was just like he would imagine it to be: Soft, safe and comfortable.

He flipped through the book his counterpart had lent him as the other one left to grab some more of that interesting drink. Apparently, it was made of mixing some kind of candy the guys frequently exchanged between each other, calling it something like…  _ Kokobop _ ? Kai wasn’t sure, not that he cared that much anyway. The only thing he cared about was having fun, and fun he was going to have all day.

His team mate Chanyeol didn’t share his idea of having fun being reading a  _ “very boring” _ story, no; he was more into  _ “active stuff” _ , in his words exactly. Sounds of the beach ball being tossed around chimed in the younger’s ears as Chanyeol shouted excitedly. The taller one was losing by far but he’d gotten to know how joyful it was to throw the ball into the rival team’s faces and how much more satisfying it was than to win the match.

Yixing turned a page on the scoreboard, placing another point to Suho and the local of this Earth, Chen’s team. Studying their surroundings more carefully, he’d come to the realization that this was actually the first comeback he had to miss! So it was a lot more enjoyable to experience it firsthand, rather than to watch his friends from a screen.

A sigh escaped Sehun as he threw his body to the grass. It was so relaxing here… He closed his eyes, breathing in the fresh air, listening to the happy tweets of the birds. Being around nature had always brought him comfort because of his natural roots, and now leaving back his worries, he was a lot more at peace indeed.

The light touch of Xiumin’s fingertips over his slender fingers made him open his eyes scarcely. “It’s so nice here…” The older one pointed out too and Sehun agreed, but his eyes lingered around, a small frown appearing on his expression. “…though I can’t help but feel like we’re forgetting about something.”

For one second, Sehun also shared his concern… but it passed away just like the breeze around them. Still, he didn’t want to just leave his companion in thought. “Maybe we can consult Kai? He’ll tell us what to do.”

Xiumin softly brushed his cheek. Something in him whispered that this wasn’t something he would usually do so out of the blue, as if something had prevented him from showing off his love for his son before. But he couldn’t remember what that was either.

Kai was still over the clouds (literally) when they found him. Doubting that he would hear him from up there, Sehun suggested that they’d climb up near him jumping around over the flying hamburgers. He still couldn’t believe they didn’t notice them earlier when they had first arrived there! With ease, they climbed on them as if moving up on a staircase.

When they asked him, their leader pressed a finger on his chin, pondering deeply. But without giving any response, he clicked his tongue, closing his eyes in annoyance. “Thinking harder about it makes my head hurt… Why do you guys even care anyway?”

Xiumin sighed. “I feel like it was something important.” Kai told them to ask the others about it as well; they went down to meet with the ones on the ground that had just given a break in their volleyball match.

“What did D.O. suggest?” Suho threw them a question in return. “He’s smart. I think he wouldn’t forget anything easily.”

“ _ Uhh _ , guys…” Chanyeol’s eyes widened. “Have any of us even seen D.O. since this morning?”

Chen rolled his eyes dramatically, and his grin returned once his Earth’s Suho handed him freshly made and ready to consume  _ Kokobop _ drinks. “Can we not turn down the mood? I’m sure he’ll pop up somewhere any time now.” Suho and Chanyeol looked at each other, feeling kind of guilty about perturbing the EXO of this Earth’s hospitality they’ve shown for them. Both of their hands reached out for the glasses Chen was extending towards their direction, when suddenly someone slapped them both out of the blond one’s hold, making them spill on the ground.

“Stop this all, now!” While Chen and this Earth’s Suho was busy staring at him in shock, D.O. grabbed the hands of Chanyeol and Suho who still had that dumbfounded expression on their features. “We’re leaving this place.” He turned his head to the sky, shouting: “Hey, get down here quickly! I said we’re going!”

Kai whined like a child: “But I don’t wanna leave just yet!”

“Excuse me,  _ the fun police _ !” Chen grabbed his shoulder, pulling him back, meeting with the annoyed face of D.O. “Why are you all so worried? Why do you keep trying to stop the fun from happening?”

D.O. took out the candy out of his pocket and showed it to him. “This little thing is messing with your minds. Once you stop taking it, you begin craving it again because it stops you from thinking. From worrying.” He turned to the others, and crushed the little candy under his boot. “I finally realized that worrying isn’t always bad. It was what kept me going all this time.” His eyes were fixated on the remains of the pill. “Worry for my friends I’ve left behind…” He raised his head to look at his team: “…and  _ friends _ I still can be together with.”

Chanyeol’s eyes widened. “D.O… you…!”

But the smaller one ignored him, and trapped Chen between his hands. “You need to let go, Chen. You are holding on to this Earth and its illusions this thing keeps giving you. For yourself… and for your friends. We have so little time now.”

Chen’s breathing started getting quicker; maybe for the first time in months, he felt a single drop of sweat formed on his forehead. His eyes were searching for something to get himself out of this complicated situation, but there was nothing he could do. D.O.’s hands on his shoulders tightened their grip. Chen closed his eyes, already trying to come up with a solution without even noticing, making him finally think more than just a few seconds for the first time in a while.

Suddenly, those flying hamburgers on the sky disappeared, along with the cloud Kai had been relaxing above – thankfully, he had regained his sense of choice-making beforehand and teleported onto the ground safely. The glistening sun disappeared, showing them that it was already past the time for sunset while they weren’t aware.

The drink Kai of this Earth had on his hold slipped past his fingers and spilled on the ground as well. Suho of his team approached next to him and held him straight; he too was feeling something else other than pure joy after a long time. It was as if all these façade were coming to a conclusion.

At the end, Chen’s brain was only pointing to the same resolution these newcomers had also offered them at the start: Procrastinating mattered not. To not lose this happiness with his friends, he had to take action.

He opened his eyes and took in the change: There were no flying cars, nor any gigantic hamburgers in the sky. Still, even without the utter nonsense he had gotten used to, this Earth was still not completely uninteresting. The greenery still remained and the sea shone with the setting sun.

There was still beauty to perceive even without fooling oneself.

Chen finally smiled sincerely, realizing that he didn’t need the  _ Kokobop _ at all to feel happiness. After taking in a hopeful breath, he approached Kai and confidently let out: “Let’s go get Baekhyun!” seeing he was the only one left missing from Kai's team. However, the younger still was in an appalled state after his mind had felt numb for that long. Chuckling, he rubbed the younger one’s back, getting a thankful look from him. “I guess you have to wait a little more, right?”

*****

With the help of Minseok in cooking –and surprisingly Chen, who offered to lend a hand in basic things like the placing of utensils since he was more familiar with the place (and he felt guilty having kind of trapped them on his Earth for the whole day), Yixing had prepared everyone their well-deserved meal. In his words, this was the custom to perform when anyone needed a good way of healing and lifting their spirits up. Surely it worked, as he judged everyone’s faces, including those from this very Earth who Yixing insisted they join their dinner.

D.O. picked a spoonful of the hot pot placed in the middle of the table, placing it in his bowl before raising his head and glancing at Xiumin who was letting Sehun eat from his plate. He watched them as they giggled, living in their own world for a short while. D.O. smiled, turning his head down at his bowl again as he stirred the soup aimlessly.

“You really miss them, don’t you?”

The deep voice of Chanyeol rang in his ears, pulling him out of his thoughts. He was sitting right next to him; D.O. was sure that this was an elaborate plan by Suho to get them closer. For some reason, he felt less annoyed with the taller one this time though, simply nodding at him. “Don’t you miss your own team, as well?”

Chanyeol wanted to respond in an insolent way, saying something like  _ “seeing this D.O. would make anyone miss their home” _ ; but surprisingly he too didn’t want to do that for once. “I do, but… With you guys… We’ve been through a lot together already.” D.O. hummed in response. Chanyeol peeked at him; since he looked relaxed, it was the perfect time to ask something that had been eating him inside. “I,  _ uhh _ … You surprised me earlier.”

“What do you mean?”

“I never would think that you’d come and help us... since you’ve told me you didn’t see us as…  _ your _ team.” He grinned. “You looked kinda cool, you know?”

D.O. blinked at him and then his lips trembled before he broke into a shy smile, averting his eyes. Chanyeol almost wanted to capture this moment forever: An embarrassed D.O. right in front of him!

“Someone made me realize what I’ve been fighting against all this time inside me.” D.O. started to explain. “I’ve always thought of relationships as a luxury as I always had to live with a responsibility to keep my members alive. I didn’t think I deserved to ask them anything in return but their health. But maybe… I could be a little selfish to demand their affection.” Chanyeol was listening to him so earnestly that D.O. wanted to continue. “I realized that it was time to stop building walls before me. Even now, my brain is telling me to stop telling you these but from now on, I’ll try to ignore it…” He took a deep breath. “…when I’m with… the people I trust.”

The eyes of the taller one widened, as he threw his arm around D.O.’s shoulder, capturing him in his hold, pulling him closer. “That’s so nice to hear, you know?!” He laughed loudly, getting the attention of Kai. The younger one chuckled, high-fiving Suho under the table as their plan indeed achieved success.

“You’ve done well, Kai.” Suho stated, getting a casual nod from the younger one – the point had not crossed him fully. “I don’t mean that only for this… I mean for  _ everything _ .”

“Everything…?”

“I was the first one you have recruited so I had the chance to watch you come to slowly grow, make better decisions. You… You helped bring the best in each one of us.” Suho made sure his words bear the emphasis he wanted them to carry. “All my life, I have always tried to escape. Escape from myself, from taking risks… but you’ve made me realize that the more I take those risks, and fight off my inner conflicts; the more opportunities that I’ll have to explore myself, my skills, and what more I can be.”

Kai stared at him for a second before shaking his head. “I didn’t do that. You’ve achieved this yourself.”

“You’ve helped me take that first step when you took me away to show me the wider universe.” Suho genuinely smiled. “I think you’ve already become that great leader Suho would want you to be, because you can be sure that  _ this _ Suho will follow you until the end.”

With the mention of his own leader, Kai once again felt the tears forming in the corner of his eyes. When he felt the reassuring touch of the Suho next to him, he raised his head, taking in a good look of the whole table. Who would have thought that to honor his own team, he had to travel through multiple different universes and bring out another?

Kai let his tears fall, shifting on his chair to rest his head on Suho’s chest. This time though, these were happy tears. Happy tears to see his friends together again.


	20. The Final Destination

This was the final destination.

All of their efforts had been for this exact moment. Kai would love to sprout out some inspirational words from his mouth, but the only emotion he found himself able to feel was impatience mixed with excitement. He could put his finger on that the others also shared his mindset; so after Chen had bid his farewell to his friends, Kai held onto the device, concentrating on the last piece of the puzzle that was his brother Baekhyun.

Usually, it would take a simple second, at most two seconds to teleport to that exact place or somewhere near a person he would try to visualize. However, there was something different this time… Not only did he feel it take longer than it should, Kai could also swear that he heard someone almost speak inside his mind while travelling.

_ “Are they all finally here?” _

His body shivered as his eyes flashed open. The rest of his team was completely frozen in time, standing still in what resembled practically a space wormhole. This must have been the thing Suho had explained to him previously when explaining his theory on how his teleportation worked. Unlike his team, at least Kai could move, and see things. But the one thing he still couldn’t wrap his head around was the voices speaking in his brain.

_ “Did he really gather them all together?” _

_ “Has he accomplished his mission yet?” _

And then, he heard a single laugh.

Kai’s eyes widened with how familiar it was; but before he could make it out who that laugh belonged to, the time continued as usual. His feet found the ground again; with what he just witnessed, his hand lost the hold of the wayfinder. Yixing rushed near him, gently grasping his face on its edges, getting a good look. With a troubled tone, he asked: “Are you feeling okay?!”

The younger one nodded immediately, trying not to cause them any stress. It wasn’t a lie anyway; physically he was completely fine. “Something bizarre happened while we were teleporting just now.” A few more heads turned to his direction curiously. “I don’t know how to explain it, but I know we are expected on this Earth.”

“It’s really you!”

Interrupting him, the cheerful exclamation of a young man echoed in the spacious natural field they were in. His eyes were sparkling under his silver fringe. A thick coat covered his small body, fitting with the temperature of this Earth.

A smile appeared on Kai’s face, and he couldn’t wait any longer to take his place under Baekhyun’s widely opened arms, even though he had to lean down in a funny looking way. The counterpart of his elder brother welcomed him warmly, not making him feel any less different. Kai let out a sigh, as if a huge burden rose off of his shoulders.

They were finally complete.

“We were waiting for you guys for so long.”

Kai slowly pushed himself away from Baekhyun, remembering what he had heard during that weird disarray of the space-time continuum he encountered during teleportation. Thinking about it now, the voices belonged to Baekhyun and possibly his members on this Earth. “How did you know we were coming?”

Baekhyun scanned the rest of Kai’s team compassionately. The foreignness of this planet was causing them apprehension; they were all huddled up together, eyes dithering. Baekhyun’s team was waiting for him right behind his back, over the slope created by the huge rocks piled up on top of each other; he returned to them, telling them to prepare a comfortable space on their own shelter for the travelers. He passed by Kai: “We should get somewhere safe first. There are so many things I need to tell you guys.” The younger leader nodded, signaling the others to follow Baekhyun’s trail down the slope.

As his mind was busy with something else earlier, Kai couldn’t have given a decent amount of attention to where they had landed on. It was a small mountain, near its summit, to be exact. Now, their steps were directed forward, the weather not getting any less harsh. All of them were pulling on their clothes to get warmer but the only one Kai noticed that wasn’t bothered by the cold was Xiumin.

Their eldest brother was impressed with someone else though: The youngest member who towered next to him. Sehun grabbed his hand, before turning his face to him while bearing a surprised expression on his face: “Oh, sorry hyung, I thought you would be cold…” He tried to release it, but Xiumin restrained him.

“You’re warmer though.”

Sehun nodded. “I actually love the cold.” He looked around for a few seconds without saying anything.

“You want to tell me something…?”

The youngest nodded again. “I know it’s stupid, but it’s an urge inside my heart. I kinda wanna…turn into a wolf right now.”

Xiumin stared at him. “…And?”

Sehun’s free right hand wiggled on his leg. “I don’t want to cause a scene all of a sudden… And we’re on a different Earth.”

“If that’s how you’ll be more comfortable…”

“Yeah, and a lot faster too.” Sehun chuckled.

“…then I don’t think any of us would oppose that.” Xiumin tightened his grip one last time before releasing it completely, pushing him away to encourage him. He could confidently say that it must’ve worked: The younger one took a deep breath, leaving their group to hide among the bushes. Chanyeol watched him slowly depart; the image of the youngest one’s backpack on his behind made him decide to keep his silence.

Instead, he turned his attention towards the northern lights. They were just as stunning as they were told in the books! With excitement, his hand pulled on Suho’s sleeve, pointing at them while they were dancing in the sky. D.O. could see their eyes glimmer together with amazement, making him smile too before realizing what he was doing and averting his gaze almost immediately. _ “Well… the lights are truly admirable,” _ he thought, returning his eyes at them again in wonder.

Chen was tiredly going down the slope, holding onto his long velvet jacket he made sure to bring along before leaving his Earth  _ just in case _ . He was super thankful to himself for thinking of that, because it was getting a little uncomfortable with just a shirt on, even though his jacket was really flashy with its red stripes on its vivid blue base, not really harmonizing with the rest of this planet… or any of the guys. To be fair, their team had no resemblance in their clothing choices with each other. As he was pondering on these needles matters, suddenly a wolf emerged from the forest, making him shriek in fear and automatically hang on to the person next to him. Lay patted his arm reassuringly, chuckling at his antics: “Don’t worry, that’s just Sehun.” He also waved his hands to the others – who had thought something happened to him – to indicate that everything was fine.

“He’s… he’s a  _ werewolf _ ?!” He watched as the wolf happily advanced down the rocks with marvelous speed.

Lay looked apologetic. “I guess we couldn’t really tell you everything about us with how hasty we acted on your Earth...”

Chen put a hand on his chest, dramatically heaving a sigh before shaking his head: “It was kind of my fault so… don’t think about it. It’s fine, man.”

It was true that everything seemed to be fast paced during their journey; it had to be like that for a reason… However, there were still some times that Lay had to step back and remind himself that this was all real. All true events happening with him in those situations. The thin line between reality and fiction had been blurred inside his mind the day Kai snagged him away from his Earth. Dangers changed their intensity, the tensions and stakes along with it. It would be lying to say that he wasn’t getting scared the more their team grew, because it meant that they were only getting closer to the end.

_ The end _ … He chuckled to himself bitterly. Never in his life would he have thought that death would be this near. As a diligent person, it wasn’t a common theme for him to stop and think about his life. Working hard every day was how he kept his mind off of the more somber parts of living. And here he was, wishing that he could have spent a little more time with his loved ones.

Still, it wasn’t clear to him how the Red Force would be like in real life. In the lore of his Earth’s EXO, there were several different depictions of them – all were evil, of course. How were they even going to fight them now? Will they come with an army, or if they just take down the head, would it be done?  _ “It sounds too easy though…” _ Maybe he should have consumed more science fiction media before coming here.

While it wasn’t odd to see Lay staying silent – that’s just how he was when he would be focused, Kai realized that there was a quite concerned expression on his face; he was frowning even, with his slanted eyes fixated on the ground. “What are you thinking so hard like that?” He chuckled at him, also throwing one arm of his jacket over Chen, in which the blond one appreciated greatly.

Lay shook his head. “You know, I’ve told you before. Everything you’ve told me, shown me… They would be considered a fairytale on my Earth. It’s like I’m waiting for someone to wake me up from everything.”

Kai’s eyes widened with fear. “I… If you want to go back…”

The other one quickly shook his head again. “I think I’m just having a hard time still making myself believe that we soon will be facing a much, much harder problem than what we’ve been through.” He looked at him properly. “Have you thought of any kind of plan to operate against the Red Force yet?”

Kai, surprising Lay, nodded. “I was thinking of using the wayfinder to locate them first. Then we need to come up with an attack method. Something where we can bring our strengths forward and when needed, cover up for each other’s weaknesses. I was going to ask all of you guys beforehand, of course.” His fingers faintly touched the older one’s wrist. “Lay, you are crucial in our final mission… so I hope…”

Lay stopped his words. “Remember what I said to you before we left my Earth?” Kai never had forgotten. Lay reminded him then that there must have been a reason he was brought to him and how he would choose to believe it. “I am a man of my words.”

“Thank you…” Kai smiled. Seeing him beam so innocently like that, Lay trapped his cheek between his index and middle finger, startling the younger one.

“ _ Aaah _ ,” Lay took his hand back to scratch his own hair. “Old habits die hard, sorry!”

Kai couldn’t help but burst out a laugh. “Well then, promise me you’ll do the same thing to the Kai on your Earth when you return, okay?”

_ “When I return…” _ Yixing replayed his words in his mind. “Yeah… I’ll do that. I hope Jongin-ah is happy.”

Finally, Baekhyun’s steps slowed down as he approached a more flat area after turning around the corner of another huge rock, showing them the way that led to a really tall building. Unfortunately, the construction must have been abruptly stopped long before its final state and it was in shambles for most of the part.

The cheerful leader of EXO of this Earth poked the young leader on his arm. “Take that pitying expression off your face,” he giggled. “This is our home, you know!”

It was true; the shelter of this EXO felt cozy, more than enough for these men in what looked like militaristic gear. Following behind them, the travelers passed through several doors with different interiors; Suho observed them carefully and deduced that each member owned a separate one. The wide corridor directed them to an even wider room in the middle of everything. There wasn’t much to see but a few seats centering a fire pot. There was even a small stove in the makeshift kitchen at the corner; a man in front of it – this Earth’s version of Chanyeol, was preparing something.

Baekhyun showed the rest of them their seats. “Sorry about the mess,” he expressed as their Chanyeol handed them glasses of water with a gentle smile on his face. Chen let out a shout, thanking the heavens as he approached the fire, finally getting a chance to feel warmer. “Some of our members left to gather information on what I’m about to tell you. They’ll be here soon too, so we can help each other out.”

Kai looked around, seeing this Earth’s Chen walking down the stairs to hastily approach them, with an equally hurried Suho after him; his red hair was hard to miss, even in the dark.

Baekhyun extended his hand in which Kai accepted.

“Welcome to  _ Earth X _ .”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only two chapters are left! But don't worry, they're gonna be long asf. Please bear with me! I'm really busy :(


	21. Battle on Earth X

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS FIC REACHED 1K HITS ㅠㅠ
> 
> Thank you guys so much!! Seriously... While I had started writing this so excitedly, I had times where I would want to have nothing to do with it. The only things that kept me going were the need to reach the conclusion and your comments along the way. Thanks for the support so much, even though we aren't many haha>< ♡

“First of all, let me offer you my deepest condolences for what happened on your Earth,” Baekhyun expressed. Kai’s head turned over the ground; he nodded indulgently. “Secondly… it breaks my heart to say this but I'll be the bearer of bad news. After your planet has been destroyed, the Red Force of your Earth has started to invade ours instead.”

The young leader's eyes widened with these news. On that day, he was sure that the Red Force couldn't be completely destroyed by just eradicating his planet, but the fact that they immediately started their occupation on the Earth he would find his last missing member was a coincidence he wasn't going to welcome.

“They intimidated us with their new teleportation technology and told us that they’re going to invade the rest of the multiverse as well.” Chen of Earth X stated, brushing his perm away from his eyes. “Chanyeol and Suho actually gathered the intel which led us to acquire the information about your arrival.”

The tall one sitting next to him excitedly took off his beret, fixing his sugar pink hair. Putting the hat back on, Earth X’s Chanyeol added with equal eagerness: “They sounded really threatened by you guys! Don’t know how but you must have given them quite the scare.”

His counterpart smirked, nudging D.O.'s shoulder.

“Unfortunately, our second attempt to gather more info didn’t go as much smoothly. In result, RF got three of our members hostage:  _ D.O., Lay and Xiumin  _ . Today is the last day they said they'd accept our surrender, if we want them back.” The red haired Suho explained, followed by a desperate sigh.

“But if you surrender and accept your… deaths, then won’t that mean that this very Earth would crumble too?” Kai asked curiously. This was a rule the younger leader believed that even The Powers That Be wouldn't be able to change: At all times, at least one EXO member did have to be present on each planet, or it would crumble, turning into space debris. Just like what went down with his home Earth. “Why would the Red Force want to be destroyed along with you?”

Baekhyun shook his head. “…Because that’s not going to happen on this Earth, with what they're planning in the shadows.” He leaned closer slowly. “We have a much worse matter in our hands, Kai. The Red Force isn’t going to try to invade all of the multiverse and erase each one of us with their army alone;  _ no  _ , you too know  _ damn  _ well that they’re cleverer than that. They’re going to strike back with what has hurt them the most. Through all of space and time, what is that one thing that keeps bugging them?”

Lay’s eyes grew and turned over to Suho sitting next to him who was having problems staying still himself. Nervously, the older one's fingers tried to intertwine with his. Minseok let out a fearful, “Oh,  _ no  _ …” before Baekhyun announced exactly what they had been afraid of all this time:

“The Red Force has set their head on cloning EXO.”

“They’re going to turn them all into their new army, aren’t they?” D.O. rose from his spot; his petite hands turned into fists. He’d known how it felt to be Red Force’s toy firsthand, and he wasn’t going to let anyone else go through the same experience ever again. “If you were aware of this, why the hell were you guys idling around here?!” With his raised tone, Sehun who had been just sitting next to the seats (and still in his wolf form in which the EXO of this Earth hadn’t even bat an eye at) stood straight and wagged his tail, ready to start moving with him.

Baekhyun stared into D.O.'s round eyes. “Do you think I’m enjoying the idea of leaving them there, all alone?!” He let out with an angry voice, before it lowered down again after a deep sigh. “It’s obviously a trap. They want all of us to show up there. We’ve decided to wait until the last day and had you not arrived, we would’ve been gone to retrieve them already.”

As the leader calmed D.O. down, the mood returned to its less tense state. They were already dealing with one enemy; none of them needed a new one. Gathering all of their empty glasses, Chanyeol returned back to that small kitchen, speaking from farther behind: “Besides, the Red Force can’t harm them but only capture them, if they want to clone more than one of us.”

Suho fixed his glasses pensively. Something didn’t make much sense. Theoretically, the only thing that would be needed during a cloning process was the DNA of the test subject. Perhaps Red Force’s technology was more advanced that it had different requirements…? He sensed his leader Kai’s gaze on him.  _ “So he had felt the same thing…” _

They kept their silence, and let Baekhyun continue: “We’re not going to set foot into their nest casually like that of course. We’ve waited long. Long enough to construct a plan.” His eyes searched Kai’s. “You seem worried.” Then, Baekhyun showed him a kind smile, those ones Kai saw maybe a million times. The ones he'd used to give to him to remind him that everything would be alright in the end. “It’s only natural, Kai. I’m sure after getting ready over the course of maybe weeks, or perhaps a month… the fact that you’re finally at  _ the beginning of an end  _ must seem like just a happy dream to you.” Suddenly, Baekhyun gripped his wrist in a tight hold, his expression pointing to just how much the leader was relying on the younger one. “But this is it, Kai. You and your team, together, it is time that we fight against the Red Force! We know where they are, and they don’t!”

“Ah, it’s really not about that actually!" Kai raised his hands in the air, trying to make Baekhyun sit back down, who excitedly had gotten too excited, standing up on his feet while preaching him to join his members. "I’m still stuck on the idea of cloning…” Kai expressed.

Baekhyun raised an eyebrow. “It’s not something normal for us either, you know? That’s just what the Red Force has told us, so we're just as clueless as you guys are.”

Suho interrupted him: “It’s about the process, to be more exact. I don’t think the Red Force would have much use for a subject, after they’d get what they need, that is their core DNA.”

This time, Baekhyun’s features formed a frown that Kai didn't seem very fit to his face. “Do you think that… they’re lying?” After saying his thoughts aloud, it sounded even more naive. What was more usual than for the Red Force to lie about their intentions, anyway?

“There’s a strong chance that… the others may have been long gone, I’m afraid.” Kai said, his head turned down the ground.

Chanyeol who (surprisingly to most of Kai's team) remained quiet all this time suddenly leaned closer. “ _ Uhh  _ , guys, let’s not focus on the bad possibilities immediately, alright?” His rusty red hair shined under the material light that kept going on and off with how loose its cables must have been connected together. It wasn’t very shocking that Earth X's EXO would choose to think pessimistically when they were surrounded with an environment like this… He turned to Baekhyun, widening his eyes in a dramatic way, making Baekhyun press his back on his seat a little. “You’ve said you had a plan, right?” Baekhyun nodded quietly. “Well," Chanyeol showed him his hand. "...do tell us.”

Once Baekhyun got the nod of permission from Kai, he made Chen bring a small paper. The permed one took the lead instead, pointing to a location marked with a huge, red colored X letter: “This is Red Force’s headquarters. According to what Kai had told us when he went for his first research mission, each door was being guarded by two men alone.”

“That sounds surprisingly easy.” Suho said.

Chen let out a chuckle. “There’re doors inside these doors.” Suho embarrassedly laughed back, and let him continue. “Thanks to his teleportation powers, he helped us draw out a simplistic map of the interior. Don't worry; as you can see, the missing parts aren't crucial to what we're trying to achieve.” His finger hovered around the sidelines. “These are where the prison cells are located. Some of us should go and search for our missing members and the rest of us…” He brought his finger to the center. “This is where the heads of the Red Force are operating at. We will be dramatically outnumbered if we just barge in…”

“We must lure them outside.” Kai said.

Baekhyun nodded. “That way, we’ll be able to use our superpowers to their best extent.”

“Then, me, Sehun and Lay will go to rescue your members.”

D.O. pointed at the greenery surrounding the building. "We could hide here, then create a diversion outside to bring them out."

Kai placed his fist onto the table. “Get the members out, bring the army outside, attack with what all we’ve got.” Baekhyun agreed. It was very simple… only in words though. Kai inhaled a deep breath.

He nodded to himself; they needed something to give them their motivation back. They made it this far, surely they were going to see the end of the downfall of the Red Force! Confidently, he brought out his arm in the air horizontally, pulling on his sleeve to reveal his forearm. He formed a fist, and the others followed him, placing their own forearms at the end of the previous one. The formation turned into their team sign: A hexagon made of the letters E, X and O.

Finally, they were all together.

*****

Red Force’s headquarters was as huge as previously described to the newcomers; Yixing had to raise his head all the way up to see where it ended. Just like what Kai had told him about the Red Force he knew of, they fancied the cold, mechanical design very much: The building was covered with metal surfaces all around it; a palette made of the color gray supported with the bright red dyed the exterior. It was the exact opposite of what life reminded Yixing of.

There was almost nothing around the building in nearly 100 meter radius but only plain asphalt. After the asphalt ground ended, the grass started to show itself, making way for the soaring trees, giving both teams the perfect cover they so much needed. Still, Baekhyun reminded them that RF sometimes released soldiers into the green grounds for patrolling the fronts of the forest, therefore to not let down their guard.

The sun didn’t reveal its shining face to them today, perhaps as an advantage, Kai wanted to think that way. Today was going to be their day. Their victory day. The day he was going to pay his debt to his leader Suho for his great sacrifice.

Since Lay didn’t have powers in which he could actively attack, he was the young leader's choice to bring along. Besides… with his brother next to him, Kai felt safer. And with Sehun, they would have the advantage of his inhuman strength, bundled with his miraculous speed.

He exchanged looks with the others waiting behind the trees. The two youngest members, Sehun and Kai of team Earth X were still nowhere to be seen; he could easily read the anxiety reflecting on their leader Baekhyun’s face. It was inevitable that he would start to fear the worst had happened to them as well.

Kai gave out the signal that they were about to leave their spot but the moment they went out of hiding, a shout reached his ears: The other team was noticed by Red Force’s robots which were headed to their hiding location. “Go! Don’t stop!” Baekhyun roared at Kai who had turned his way, shooing away the seesawing Kai with his hand before he threw a sharp kick to the robot. Yixing pulled on Kai’s arm and they started running for the entrance before it became too late.

The younger one tried to teleport to a near location where the missing members were in. Usually when he used his superpower, all he needed would be just visualizing a place to teleport to, or sometimes when he wouldn’t have that information, he’d just think of a person – the way he had teleported through multiple Earths was with this method; but for some reason he couldn’t do it today. Maybe it was because he couldn’t concentrate while struggling to get these damn robots off of himself. Surprising him, Lay could actually throw good punches. “Your stance is really good,” Kai made sure to compliment him as he rolled the head off of a robot by turning its neck around as soon as he teleported behind it.

“I knew it was a shame how I couldn’t show off my boxing skills the last time during our fight on Chanyeol’s Earth,” Lay returned him a sincere smile even though his knuckles hurt a lot since the robots were made of hard material. “I’m better at using my fists as my weapon!”

Meanwhile, Sehun jumped at one of the robot's legs, and pulled on it while biting with his strong canine teeth on its cables that were revealed after he dislocated it. He turned the robot around himself one last time before throwing it to the wall, tearing it apart in result.

In just a few minutes, the guards at the left entrance door were completely eliminated! Excitedly, Kai patted Sehun’s head, getting a happy noise from him. Though, their previous encounter with the robots erupted a noise that grabbed the attention of the other guards, already advancing to their direction. This was actually a good opportunity to pull them away from the gates they were protecting!

Kai made his friends pass through the next door and closed it behind before the ones on their tail reached them – two of the robots were sliced right in the middle of their bodies, the upper part of their artificial structure dropping on the side Kai's team had slipped past to. After successfully dealing with another pair of guards stationed at the door inside, they opened the first door back to see how the rest of the team was holding up.

Just like they had planned to, while the doors were vacant, the rest of the team who had disposed of the patrolling soldiers, had rushed over to the open ground surrounding the building. Much to their liking, it was finally time to attack the fancy architecture. Chanyeol and Suho took a fighting stance by resting their backs together on each other. They were each other's weakness, so whatever attack one might receive coming their way, the other could counter it anytime. D.O., controlling the ground according to his will, had erected part of it, wide enough for him and Earth X's Suho to stand on comfortably, creating an advantage by standing at a higher position.

The remaining guards at the inner doors entered the scene to take the missing guards' place and the battle officially turned into one with both sides present. Standing high above, D.O. started his attack with huge boulders he formed from the soil on the ground, cracking the dome centered on the building, creating more vulnerable areas where the ones hovering in the air could use their superpowers on. For example, Xiumin, who confidently carried his body by circulating a safe cushion of air around his presence, starting a harsh snow storm. He wasn’t too high in the air as the skies were in use by two other members already; he’d have to do with just freezing the robots on their way to strike him, or the other members of EXO.

It had been too long since he had the chance to use – a better way to put it would be to say he wanted to show off his powers, so he was going to take pleasure in this as much as he could. Surely it was just too enjoyable to watch as D.O. would turn them into shambles after the robots would be turned into fragile ice statues by Xiumin himself; while on the other hand, Chanyeol would melt their surfaces with his hands and Suho easily short-circuited those who came to his way.

The thunder roared and an almost blinding light rose in the sky. From the clouds emerged two figures, dressed completely the opposite. They made up for this shortcoming by bearing the same superpowers: Chen and Earth X's Chen decided to combine them as they brought the thunder upon the building. The blond one’s eyes turned into a void of pure light when he unleashed a strike of bolt upon the rest of the guards rushing to the scene, hitting them with just a snap of his finger.

He felt a flame bursting in his heart. Chen was just so thankful that he had the chance to feel a very strong emotion like this after so long. So glad that he had decided to make a difference in his life on the day Kai took him away from his daze, before he maybe would have forgotten how to put his supernatural powers to any use.

On the other hand, his dark haired counterpart used his chance to strike on the building itself but it seemed futile to try to just turn off all the robots. “I think they’re not powered by electricity alone,” he shouted at the one hovering next to him, before his attention turned to the sound of the blast doors malfunctioning and opening on their own. “…but I guess it messed with the mainframe of the headquarters!”

Yixing let out a silent cheer, raising his fist in front of his chest as Sehun wagged his tail with enthusiasm. Kai pointed inside with his head and the two followed his trail.

The inside of the building was as wide as it looked on the outside, but it wasn't spacious with the unwelcoming crowd made of RF’s soldiers. As the doors were unattended and malfunctioning, the rest of the team fighting outside also were on their way inside, ready to cover for the three in their own separate mission.

While working on taking down as many soldiers as possible along the way, Kai warned Lay and Sehun that they could now teleport, pointing towards where the cells should be located, according to this Earth’s Kai and Chanyeol’s intel; but he noticed that Lay’s steps gradually became slower the more they got closer to their destination.

“I just realized…” Lay started once they could take a moment’s break from fighting. “If it was going to be this easy, why haven’t their team’s Kai teleported to their cells before?”

“I guess it would be harder to fight off this many people on the way.”

Sehun raised his head, chasing his gaze between the two of them curiously as Lay shook his head: “No. He could’ve just teleported right to the cells and got them out!”

Kai’s eyes twitched; how could he be so blind to pass over this fact earlier? He was so focused on fighting the Red Force off this Earth that he never even thought of asking the obvious questions! His head turned towards the main gate where the rest of them were rushing in from; Baekhyun shouted at him hurriedly: “Why are you lingering around here for? Go!” His platinum hair bobbed as he tried to punch a robot that was holding him back.

The glimpse of D.O., Chen, and Xiumin, who were all  _ coincidentally  _ paired up with Earth X’s EXO entered his vision. With all his strength, Kai shouted at D.O. whose eyes met with his first between all of them: “Go back!”

Sehun passed next him, dashing back to where they had come from. Kai grabbed Lay’s hand, ready to teleport them outside the building but someone else stepped right in front of him.

Bearing a black crop top barely covering his chest under a bright yellow leather jacket, Kai was face to face with his counterpart of this Earth. His facial features were emphasized with dramatic makeup; he felt a shiver creeping up his sleeve when the other one simply grinned at him, showing his white teeth between his blood red lips. Nonetheless, Kai teleported at the entrance, failing to notice that he had brought along an uninvited guest along his short journey. The other Kai threw his fist right into his head and he fell to the ground like a thin leaf. Standing next to him since the young leader had teleported them together, Yixing wanted to help Kai remain awake before he would lose his consciousness; he crouched down, bringing his arms forth to pull him up but the last thing he had felt before fainting was the kick he had received from the pink haired Chanyeol right to his head.

“You should have listened to me when I asked you nicely,” Kai heard Baekhyun speak to him, before the shouts, screams and gasps of his friends mixed with his voice. He watched as his vision clouded before revealing the truth.


	22. The Tree of Life and The Eye that Shadows Over It

Kai opened his eyes to a completely different setting than he remembered being in. While he was out of it, he had been made to sit on his knees and also was handcuffed, just like his team members right next to him. He tried to raise his head to get a vision of his surroundings but the first thing his eyes crossed with made him remember what happened right before he had lost his consciousness.

Yes… Kai remembered everything in his vision turning into something else, right in front of him. The Earth they had met upon landing on it was a complete illusion; nothing they had seen was real.

Somehow, the young leader knew that this was all created by the one standing ruthlessly in front of him. A thin black veil covered half of Earth X’s leader’s face where he was sending him an icy stare underneath. His team was standing next to him just as proudly, with their flashy matching outfits as well.

The EXO of this Earth wasn’t the only thing that had changed after the curtain of deception was drawn back. While it wasn’t even debatable that Earth X wasn't much of a stunner overall in the beginning, the environmental transformation still was a lot more shocking. The needleleaf forests were replaced by vast grounds. Instead of the beautiful northern lights, the skies were occupied with the color red, the light source being this very building they were all trapped in. Something inside this structure was reducing the strength of his powers, making him feel weaker than he had ever felt physically.

Clearing his throat, Kai tried to speak up: “How…? How have you done all of this?”

Baekhyun’s gaze didn’t falter one bit while answering his question. “The power of light isn’t something to be underestimated.” He whipped his head slightly to push away his single braid out of the way where he was going to cross his arms on. “I am the possessor of the ability to manipulate light, and that is how I was able to change the way you perceived your reality.” Slowly, he crouched in front of him to meet Kai's stare more comfortably, sending a smirk down his way. Their faces were so close that the young leader could feel Baekhyun’s breath on his skin. “You think that I started doing this only when you arrived on our Earth…?”

Kai frowned, unable to understand what he was referring to. As much as he was aware of, he had never experienced anything weird like the irregularity that happened moments before he’d set foot on this Earth.

A single cold laugh echoed inside the wide chamber. “Oh, I just love seeing how clueless you are! How you’ve been like this all through your so called  _ ‘journey’  _ .” From the floor, placed right next to the young leader, he grabbed the wayfinder Kai’s been using all this time. Suddenly, he threw it in the air. Kai couldn’t help but gasp since it was the last remaining memory of his leader Suho.

Strangely though, unlike his expectations, just like how the previous illusions Baekhyun had shown him dispersed in front of his eyes earlier, the wayfinder completely disappeared before it hit the ground.

"No… that can't be…" Kai couldn't find the strength in himself to even finish his sentences. All this time… he was playing right into their hands? Going through a completely meaningless crusade?

Baekhyun smirked at him. “There was no wayfinder! No guidance. The Red Force just used you to make you bring the other members to them. Thank you for being a good sport about it, you perfect courier!” Like nothing, he giggled.

“I… But, how could…? Suho had given that to me himself!”

“Your leader, along with the rest of your team were all long gone before you even could wake up from your deep slumber on that very first day you’ve started your mission.” Baekhyun grinned. “I’ve used the one thing that would make you do anything we say. It appears that, to you, that someone was him.”

Kai's lips twitched, his eyes getting watery with the things he was hearing. He knew so well that this wasn't the time to get emotional; showing his weak side to the enemy wasn't something he had ever done but learning that everything he had tried so hard, fought so hard for was… just a game for the Red Force. And he had been their pawn all this time.

His head turned to the floor, his breath getting erratic before he let out silent sobs. He was pulling on the chain connected to his handcuffs, wanting so badly to jump on Baekhyun right there. To take his anger on that  _ asshole  _ .

But revenge wasn't something Suho ever agreed on, and Kai knew that his friend’s life code wasn't a part of this man's illusions. Besides, he was probably just a soldier, following orders. That didn't make it okay, but he couldn’t be held responsible alone for everything the Red Force had done.

Seeing how much agony the young leader was in, Chanyeol shouted from his spot, getting angry as well: “How could you bargain with the Red Force?! You are their enemy, just like we are theirs! It’s always been that way since the beginning!” It was almost unimaginable; since the beginning of time, it had always been EXO against the Red Force… it was supposed to be like that… How could the members of EXO join hands with their enemy?

“You’ve seen different Earths with your own eyes. The ones that weren’t my creations… You should be the first to know that there are limitless possibilities among the multiverse.” Baekhyun turned to the furious Chanyeol. “And, just look at the coincidence! On this Earth, EXO’s clones took the positions from their previous owners.”

Yixing’s eyes widened, turning to Suho since he was well-informed on matters like this, expecting an explanation; but under those glasses of his, he met with an expression similar to his, one of surprise. This didn't hold the older one back from asking questions though, even under such circumstances, his curiosity had remained: "You're saying you are the clones the Red Force created for their army?"

"Don't misunderstand." Baekhyun’s voice was stern this time, losing its playful tone. "Unlike the Red Force's robot soldiers, I am just as human as you are. Here," he brought his hand over his chest. "...I have a heart just like you. The memories of my life are still vivid inside my mind. I had lived through every single one of them." He crouched in front of Kai one last time. "I feel."

Suddenly, his teammate Chen placed his hand over his arm, stopping his words. “He’s here.”

The mood shifted again as the entity of a higher position than Earth X’s EXO was expected to enter the room. With coordinated movements, they all went on one knee to bow before him. “Welcome,  _ the Eye  _ .” Somehow, even it’s presence was deeply excruciating to Kai and the rest of his team. As if something about this so-called  _ the Eye  _ irritated their hearts. Under his frown, Kai did his best to get a good look of him when he would appear.

But contrary to his expectations, the Eye didn’t carry a body. It wasn’t like one of RF’s generals most of his team had faced more than once in their lives, nor their soldiers they could so easily take down with their superpowers. In a bizarre way, this entity emerged right from the big old tree centered in the room. A red light shined between the tree’s thick outer bark, and in seconds, particles started to get combined into what Kai guessed would turn out to be this entity’s physical form.

In just a matter of seconds, there stood a tall man under a long dark cowl. His eyes never closed once; the red sclera hurt to look right into it, since he didn’t have any pupil inside either. Suho gulped upon seeing his scary appearance.

The Eye glimpsed at Kai. “You’ve done your part well, indeed. I now realize how crucial it was that I had given the decision to carry this route.” In a strange way, Kai and the rest of his team could feel each word coming out of his mouth echoing in their minds. “After all those years of wasting our time and  _ yours  _ by fighting futilely with each other, I’ve come to notice that the best solution to our dispute would be to just… get rid of you.” Slowly, he stepped forward. The cowl surrounding its body sweeped the floor as he approached Kai menacingly. “...All of you. From every single universe you could possibly come back to become a spectacle in our way again.” He opened his arms widely, showing around. “You see, this Earth we are all standing on right now… It’s where everything started.”

“What do you mean?” Suho inquired, his eyes shuddering behind his glasses.

“I’m sure you are aware that with every decision you've made, there is another Earth being created where you've chosen the other option. This is how the multiverse came into existence.” He looked at them all one by one. “Do you realize why we needed each one of you to be brought along from different Earths?”

Minseok crossed his eyebrows. According to what he had been told… it was wherever the wayfinder brought Kai into. But if that was a part of an illusion, what could have been the reason they were selected specially?

“You were all born from the Tree of Life in the beginning of everything. You were the true EXO.” He turned to his back, placing his hand on the tree. The moment his fingers brushed the surface, Kai felt a sting in his heart. Judging by the grunts next to him, his teammates were going through the same pain. “For you have all been scattered around the multiverse, this tree was my only hope to find your locations. Since then, we’ve been living in a symbiotic way… Its power is beyond my understanding.” He giggled. “We’re like two peas in a pod now.”

“Why haven’t you just killed us the moment you’ve brought us here…?” D.O. asked him. “And besides, we’re still one member short! Baekhyun is…” Slowing down for a second, his eyes turned hostile. “You must have killed him, haven’t you?”

The Eye nodded enthusiastically as if this was something to be celebrated. “It was such a nice coincidence that he was just on the next Earth waiting for me all this time.” He walked near Earth X’s Baekhyun, grabbing him from his chin, turning his head around as if to get a better look of his creation. “Although, before that… I’ve made sure to store his DNA. We wouldn’t want to waste away that pretty face, would we?” When his slender fingers released his head, Baekhyun simply snorted.

“What the hell are you planning on?!” Chanyeol shouted at him, tugging on his handcuffs holding him in his place.

“With the data of your entire DNA, our scientists will create what would be known as the new EXO on this Earth. Meaning that…” He pointed at X-EXO. “With no longer your existence, the rest of those different universes will be gone and our new clones will take your place as the real EXO. Then we will use them as our army to silence anyone who would try to stand against what we stand for.”

Something still didn’t make sense to Suho. “What about the missing members on this Earth?”

“Oh, you mean the counterparts of those three?” He pointed at D.O., Yixing and Minseok. “Yeah, well… You know how scientific experiments work. There are times where it will go as planned… and other times not. If getting to our success means that we will have to lose some expendable clones through the way, we would gladly proceed.”

So it was just as Kai had thought; the Red Force’s first attempts at cloning were failures, which resulted in losing both the subject and the clone. Kai’s eyes turned to Baekhyun who was still right in front of his line of vision; with his back turned on him, Baekhyun could still hear him even if he'd whisper. “The Red Force does not care about you, Baekhyun. We were all brought here to meet with you. Listen to me. We can end this a—” Before he could finish, Baekhyun turned around in a single swift move, pressing his hard boot on the younger one's head, laying him on the floor and silencing him.

Showing no signs of any emotion, the Eye spoke up to them for the last time: “You will be taken to the cloning chambers forthwith.” He gestured at Baekhyun to carry on with his order.

Kai’s head was still touching the cold hard floor when he started to think about everything that had led up to this point. The day he had  _ thought  _ he lost everything, when his planet turned into nothing but dust. His friends,  _ Suho, Xiumin, Baekhyun  _ … everyone’s smiling faces passed by his mind one by one. The first time he had set foot on another reality, Suho's nervous state. Lay without his superpowers. Chanyeol who loved to steal from the rich. The way Kai tried his best for D.O. to trust him. Absurdity of Xiumin’s Earth. Chanyeol getting himself in trouble with Sehun’s wolf acquaintances. Their last dinner they had together… and Baekhyun’s smile… which turned to be a part of his play.

So… it meant that it came to an end, easy as this.

There was no way out this time. He wasn't feeling sorry for himself but the rest of his team he had brought to their demise by gaining their trust, and the people of the multiverse who were unaware of what was going to happen to them…

Maybe it should have been someone else's responsibility to save the multiverse rather than Kai, because his inadequacy was going to cost uncountable lives' worth.

He closed his eyes as Baekhyun approached him and pulled on his arm harshly. He could hear the others were also being brought before the chambers that were placed circling the Tree of Life.

But then, all of a sudden a howl reached his ears that made him flash open his eyes. Sehun, this time in his werewolf form emerged from the darkness. As he rushed to the Eye’s direction, X-EXO did their best to stop him but Sehun easily dodged them, even Chanyeol’s most dangerous fire attacks. “When did this one escape from his handcuffs?!” The Eye clicked his tongue before he ordered: “Go on, take him down before he makes a mess! And Baekhyun, bring the others to the chambers immediately!”

However, Baekhyun was standing still right on his spot, not moving an inch. “You’ve really not noticed that wolf hasn’t been present since we’ve captured the rest of them, haven’t you?”

The Eye turned to him, widening his eyes with bewilderment, but he was going to be even more surprised when he'd turn back to his front once again. EXO stood before him, none of them in any handcuffs. Baekhyun’s teammates X-EXO approached next to their leader.

The red eyes of the Eye flashed with light. “You… You’ve played a trick on me?!”

That sudden entrance of that wolf was the diversion Baekhyun needed to free the travelers while painting a fight scene for only the Eye to witness. He sent him a smirk after taking off his veil. “Count it as a payback for taking my friends from me.”

The Eye laughed maniacally. “You can’t possibly… You can’t kill me!”

“Just like you said… you are but a leech that is feeding off of the energy that emerges from the Tree of Life." Baekhyun rushed next to Kai, this time holding out his hand for him in which the younger one gladly accepted. This time it was his time to trust him.

Kai pointed at the Eye with his index finger. "You are the thing that has been making us feel weak." Kai placed his hand on the tree. "But the moment we will purify the Tree of Life, all together...” Hearing him, the rest of EXO followed his actions.

With each hand added (Sehun with his paw since he couldn't turn into his human form right now), the form of the Eye started to seriously waver. He was having trouble keeping his physical body in place. “I killed Baekhyun… The  _ real  _ Baekhyun! Without him, this is all useless!” Half of his body had been long dispersed and soon enough, his face became the only remaining part of his body soon enough. He started laughing again, he had the upper hand here! "You will never be complete! My scheme has always been three steps ahead of what your puny heads could come up with!"

Grimace covered the young leader's face, but he shook his head. Kai wasn't giving up just yet! Words coming out from his enemy's mouth weren't going to make him back off now. "You're wrong!" He shouted at the Eye before turning his head to his right, he stared into Baekhyun’s eyes. "He's standing right here next to us!"

However, Baekhyun shook his head hopelessly. "No! It won't work, Kai! Even though I would have preferred to have that way too!"

The Eye let out another chuckle. "He's just a clone!"

"Shut up!" Kai shouted at him angrily that even the entity himself got surprised with him. He turned to Baekhyun again. "Don't listen to him, listen to me! You are the same, Baekhyun! When I first met you, you gave me a smile, remember?" His eyes were full of desperation. The warm feeling that simple action had brought to him was still very real inside Kai’s heart, no matter how much of a fool the older one made him to be afterwards. "On that moment I gave you my trust, and now, you have to trust me!"

Baekhyun’s legs trembled with nervousness. Each second that had passed meant that another opportunity could arise for the Eye to regain full control over the Tree of Life again. Grunting, he took Kai's hand and placed his hand on the tree trunk, closing his eyes tightly as he let in the energy of nature flow inside through his veins.

Suddenly, a blinding light emerged from within the cracks on the tree's surface, as the final screams of the evil residing in the Tree of Life got purified with all their powers combined. The impact threw them all away from the tree and they found themselves on the hard floor.

Baekhyun’s chest rose as he tried to regulate his breathing. The energy he had felt just now was… something so different that he couldn't find the right words to explain.

He heard his name being muttered; Kai was trying to speak to him: "If you weren't a real EXO member, this Earth would have shattered the moment they destroyed the other ones, Baekhyun." He showed him a smile. "You are, by core, an EXO member. It is in your hands if you want to continue the legacy of those who were before you here, by accepting yourself."

Baekhyun returned his smile, thanking him softly. But before he could continue, Chanyeol pointed in the tree's direction. "Guys, look!"

With nowhere else to go now, the remaining particles of the Eye took a route that was familiar to Earth X's Chen: "He's going to enter the mainframe!"

Sehun quickly turned around to his left, hearing thuds coming from the doors all around them. It was their fine work that all the doors were wide open, but the Eye was now turning on the previously unresponsive robots in the other rooms, which had always been out of the plan…

"We're too late," D.O. mumbled in despair as they started to huddle together while being surrounded by the robots.

He felt a nudge on his arm coming from the tall one. Chanyeol showed him a grin that D.O. would never thought he would miss seeing this much: "We're just beginning the real battle, D.O.! Hold your chin up, and try to catch up to me, will ya'?"

Kai tried to teleport once again but it was futile; he looked at his counterpart who shook his head at him. They still couldn’t access their true power for the Eye still held onto his last pieces of existence around them through all these newly made robots.

The difference was obvious; unlike the earlier models, these robots acquired various weaponry inside them, such as the flamethrower which burnt a hole through the bottom part of Yixing's jacket. He tried to take it off immediately but Suho put out the fire before it got serious. In return, Yixing carefully punched the robot standing right behind Suho, his arm swinging above the older one's shoulder.

A shout grabbed his attention; D.O. was vulnerable inside the building since the Red Force barely had anything natural inside, except for the Tree of Life which couldn't be used in a way to attack anyone, or anything. Yixing ran over to him hastily, putting his arm over his shoulder. While pulling him to a safer area, he tried to heal his scar on his forehead caused probably by a metal weapon. "Are you feeling better?" D.O. nodded and let him protect him for a while.

“I should probably ask about you…” D.O. mumbled; he could feel the fear of the guy next to him.

Yixing let out a bitter chuckle. “Well, I am scared.”

“We’re going to get out of here,” D.O. assured him in which the older one agreed.

"Hey! You!" Chanyeol shouted at Earth X’s Sehun who was doing his best to counterattack the robots. "Take the lead; me and Xiumin will protect you guys from behind!"

The other one nodded, immediately raising his body up in the air through his power of wind. Under him, the rest of both teams started running forward. Sehun's counterpart who was still in his wolf form watched him with sparkling eyes, admiring. X-Sehun brought his arms forth, opening his palms and effortlessly getting rid of the robots with a single wave of his hand. While they were down, Chen would strike them with his electric shock, performing a short circuit. "Listen guys, I know we're being cool and all that, but do you really think it will be over once we get rid of every single one of them?"

Suho looked as if he was contemplating. "Upon what we've seen, I think we need to erase the Eye completely… since he is in the mainframe, we could try to destroy it." He tried to evade a melee attack coming in his way, but he missed the timing to prevent the other hit that came from another robot behind his back.

A blade of light pierced through that same robot’s chest, and it fell on the floor. "I know where it is." Baekhyun stated as he helped Suho get up. "It's under this floor since it needs to be secured well. You can't just destroy it though, but you can turn it off forever. I can do it."

"Someone needs to watch your back as you turn it down," Kai shook his head. "I'm going with you." Baekhyun didn't refuse; he knew this as well and for his offer, he was more than thankful.

While the rest of them were headed for the way to the gates, Baekhyun's steps were fast as Kai was following him. "I'll light the way," he said with a grin. "Don't slow down!" Oh, how the young leader missed using his teleportation powers.

Soon enough, they found the maintenance room. It was filled with huge computers, many of them taller than Kai himself. The place resembled a maze almost, one neither of them could waste any time on. The younger one connected his hands and showed Baekhyun his palms, sticking them right next to the computer's shorter side. Baekhyun easily stepped on it to jump on the computer, walking on it for a while, until he spotted the smaller computer standing there all alone like a shining beacon.

He jumped down immediately. The clattering sounds of Red Force's neo robots reached his ears once again. Kai shouted at Baekhyun: "Do it!"

"I'm not playing around, you know?!" X-EXO's leader grabbed a cable passing on the floor, connecting it to the mainframe. The wide screen right above the computer flickered, coming to life. He started pressing the buttons, trying to remember all those codes Red Force used in their systems. He would have called that Suho of Kai's team too since he sounded the smartest between all of them, had he known those private codes; they could have finished this in a couple of minutes.

Kai took his fighting stance, building up power on his legs. Before the first one could approach him, he flew in the air for an air kick. "They're here!"

Baekhyun turned around for a second; seeing how much trouble Kai needed to handle, he instantly went back to his work. He was so close to finishing it, when suddenly, a hand gripped his neck tightly, raising him on his feet and then in the air, choking him.

The arm turned him around and Baekhyun met with the young leader. Kai's eyes were greatly widened, and his pupils were twitching like crazy. Baekhyun was appalled; did Kai change his mind and finally decide to take his revenge? He tried to ask something but he couldn’t even let out one word with how tight his hold on his neck was.

Kai was staring right into his eyes. His lips were trembling unusually as he finally spoke: "Kill… me… Baek…hyun." It was as if his mouth was fighting with him to not open at any cost.

Baekhyun’s expression changed from one with fear into something more surprised. What was going on here?! With all his remaining strength, he brought his hands to his neck, pushing Kai's fingers a little bit to breathe more comfortably. "What the hell... are you… asking from me?!"

The young leader's head turned to his left in an almost spasmodic way, before his eyes met with Baekhyun's again. "It's the Eye!" He said in a hurried tone, but he was less tense now, speaking with clearer words. "He took over… my body. If you won't kill me right here, he could travel to anywhere he wants with my powers! But before that, he's gonna kill you!"

Baekhyun tried to shake his head. "N-no… Kai, I can't!"

"There is nowhere for me to go back to after today ends anyway, you don't have to feel bad." Kai stared at him deeply. "This is my way of escaping, Baekhyun. I'm finally letting go of the memories that had always held me back onto the reality of a past that should've been forgotten long before, the one that I don’t have a chance to return to." Baekhyun’s eyes wavered with desperation as Kai turned his head towards the ceiling. A smile crept up his lips. " _ The Powers That Be  _ … It's time I keep my promise to you."

"What promise?! Who…?! What did you do?" Baekhyun looked at him, expecting the explanation that was never going to come his way.

Kai smiled at him, doing his best to fight with the evil inside him before he successfully released his hold on Baekhyun's neck. The man dropped on the floor with a loud thud, his slender fingers rubbing his neck as he coughed, finally getting the breath he so much needed.

"Don't worry," Kai breathed out. The words tasted like rust on his tongue. "Everyone escapes in the end, I am just doing it on my own terms." Kai closed his eyes, falling on his knees on the floor, his arms on his sides, remembering the promise he'd made on the very first time he came to connect with TPTB on Xiumin's Earth.

_ "The Powers That Be, today as I stand before you, I offer you my life, my history, my whole being. In return, I plead for you to save my friends and give them eternal happiness the moment that I will need it the most." _

Teardrops started to fall down from Baekhyun’s eyes, as he brought his hand to place it softly above Kai's heart. Unlike what he thought, it was beating pretty regularly, like he was at peace with what he asked from Baekhyun.

Biting on his lip, Baekhyun took the liberty to place his head on his shoulder, raising his other hand to embrace him in his final moments. Even though he had known him for a short while, Kai had taught him how to resist against the evil surrounding their Earth.

He felt Kai's arm raising in the air again, targeting his neck. The Eye was taking over.

Baekhyun formed a light in his palm, piercing through Kai's heart. The young leader's eyebrows rose higher in pain, but the smile on his lips remained as he whispered: "Thank you… for letting me escape."

Before his body could fall on the floor, Baekhyun supported his back, pulling him under his arm. "No, no, Kai," he was shaking his head, as he tried to move him to meet with the others. Yes, if he could just make it to Lay, he could still heal him!

His feet stuck on a loose door, and he tripped, making them both fall. Baekhyun got up on his feet quickly with all his might, checking on Kai's chest, comforting himself each time it rose with his breathing. Lay approached them the moment the rest of them noticed the two struggling by the hall leading to the main gate. Baekhyun almost fell on the ground, his team holding him together.

But Lay's fingers were trembling just like his.

The older one covered the young leader's chest with his, hugging him for the last time, letting his tears fall freely.

Kai was already gone.

As his friends mourned his death, his sacrifice, they were unaware of his consciousness managing to hear one last sentence before he closed his eyes for the last time.

It was of something divine, and it was what calmed his beating heart earlier.

"Kai," it called out to him. "It's not your time yet…"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there'll be an epilogue :-)  
> thank you so much for sticking still~


	23. Epilogue

**EARTH 1759: THE POWER OF MUSIC**

“I’ve finally found you!”

Fluttering his eyes, Suho met with his leader Baekhyun, his ears helping him wake up upon hearing the leader’s excited voice. He opened his eyes to the familiar vivid violet skies of his home planet, and it's over-the-top lightning all around. A small meow escaped from the little kitten on the leader’s palm as it tried to bring its paw on Suho’s face gently.

“Look how excited she is to see you!” Baekhyun brought the cat closer to his face, swinging it softly while holding it from its elbows. “Aren’t you, huh,  _ Eri  _ ?” Suho accepted Baekhyun’s hand, getting up but suddenly, his leader trapped him in a tight embrace.

Flustered, Suho tried to pat his back. “What got you like this?”

“You’ve been gone for some time…” Baekhyun buried his head on his shoulder. “I thought… we lost you.”

“I guess I’m back…” Suho scratched his head. “...somehow…”

Pushing him away softly, Baekhyun took a good look at his outfit. One eyebrow raised, “What’s with your clothes?” he asked jeeringly.

Suho turned his head down; he was wearing his usual navy colored jacket over his white shirt – or, it used to be white. For some reason it looked like it was taken right out of a battleground. He took off his glasses, wiping it on his cleaner jacket.“I have no idea either… Must have blacked out somewhere muddy along the way.”

“Blacked out?!” Baekhyun sounded worried. “You okay now?”

Suho shook his head, patting his arm to reassure him. “Don’t worry. I’m quite alright. I think I was actually worried about you guys the whole time…”

There returned the playful expression of his leader on his face again: “You? ...Worried about us?” He chuckled. “You must’ve really gone through a lot, huh?” Suho hummed in response as his leader took a good look at his face. “Suho, I’m really glad you’re back with us. I really liked the way you were before too, and you know that but… now, I see how much of a better person you’ve become.”

Suho turned his eyes to the sky. “I think I have someone else to thank for that…”

While they were heading back to their home, Suho realized that it had been extraordinarily quiet in this part of town.

“Have you guys taken down that big robot? It was still around before I had left…”

Baekhyun raised an eyebrow. “What robot…?”

Suho stopped in his tracks. “The R… Red…” But his head couldn’t finish his words for some reason.

His leader took the initiative instead: “Do you mean the robot  _ the Red Force _ gave us as a gift?” Suho frowned. He still couldn’t remember more than little things about the so-called Red Force but something in his heart insisted that they weren’t usually givers of presents. “It’s still with us, see,” Baekhyun pointed at the garden surrounding their house. “It’s mowing our grass.” With its huge tall build and just as long arm, the robot was done with its job and now proceeded to cut the bushes properly. Suho watched as Baekhyun raised  _ Eri _ over his head again. “…Our garden that the little  _ Eri _ will be roaming on, right…” His finger brushed tenderly above Eri’s nose bridge. “...right,  _ Eri _ ?”

A smile covered Suho’s lips. No matter what had happened while he was gone from his planet, it was a gift he appreciated greatly.

*****

**EARTH 16818: LOTTO**

Walking forward for 5 minutes straight after entering the forest behind that old windmill, the entrance way he’d used all this time for their hideout appeared in his tracks. Weirdly enough, he’d missed climbing that tree, the one with longer branches that stood out between more of the smaller population. He brought out his hand on that specific branch and met with the rope he always hid above it. He grinned as he threw the rope over to the tree on the opposite side; taking off his jacket, he used it to slide through the rope, watching the wide (and deep enough for many fish to live) river flow between the trees.

The moment those familiar bricks showed its face to him, he knew he was home again.

With a swift movement and a kick on the spot only he was aware of, he opened the window on the second floor with ease. Plopping his tall body over the bed he missed too much, he closed his eyes and breathed in the slightly suffocating air that he had gotten used to through his time in here.

_ “About that…”  _ He thought. Where had he been to during the time he wasn’t here, anyway?

He woke up today in the deep of the forest. Thank the heavens that he still managed to remember his way around there... but looking around the city, he felt like something was missing. Something that he wished was gone, was finally truly gone.

A growl reached his ears and his stomach pulled him out of his thoughts.

His steps followed the trail he was accustomed to, towards the kitchen located on the first floor, the second door on the right to be exact. He opened the fridge and placed a cheese slice (that probably D.O. had cut out previously) in his mouth.

“Chanyeol?!”

He turned his head to the door. The person he was thinking of just now was standing at the sill; whatever he was holding in his hand dropped on the floor dramatically. With the noise he created, it didn’t take long before the rest of his teammates appeared behind him, reminding Chanyeol of little chicks crowding around their mother.

Without saying anything, they just huddled around Chanyeol, hugging out the times they had lost without each other.

*****

**EARTH ZERO**

D.O. felt as clueless as a baby. He had no idea which planet he was on.

All his life he remembered being trapped inside somewhere and there was a moment in his journey that redefined that reality, as if he broke out of that cage. The only problem was that he couldn’t quite possibly put a finger on what it was.

But everyone knew how the saying went. Sometimes, ignorance was truly bliss.

And now, he was standing before the door inside a hotel. The locals around had told him to check out this building; the barista at that coffee shop he woke up at was the one who told him that he would surely find them there whoever he was looking for. “My friends,” he had asked that kind man. Those same words he kept inside his heart all this time…

D.O. knocked on the door.

...and was instantly welcomed by cheers.

“ _ My friends  _ …” he repeated softly. “I missed you.”

He took the plastic jacket off his shoulders and dropped it outside the door, never again getting it back. Forever.

He was free.

*****

**EARTH-1385: XOXO**

Once again, Sehun had woken up with no clothes on in the middle of the forest.

Walking on his fours, he looked around the back of the trees until he spotted his backpack hidden behind the bushes. His clothes were safe and sound; it wasn’t like these wolves were ever going to need his school uniform anyway.

The last time he had left his school building was after the first period of another ordinary Monday. Or, he thought it was going to end just as ordinarily… For whatever reason, he had gone to the forest during the lunch break and fainted there. Returning to his school now, he found out it was another Monday again. He didn’t know if it was the same day or weeks, months after.

Glimpses of memories replayed inside his mind. The kind of memories that switched between the real ones he vividly remembered, and those ones that you couldn’t just be sure that you’d lived through or you were just mixing it up with your imagination. And in one of those memories, Minseok hyung was telling him to show his friends his true self. The self he had always kept hidden from the men he called family.

Whichever day it was from the week didn’t matter. Today was significant because he was going to make a change.

“Don’t panic when I change,” he said softly, making his friends wait in the middle of the forest as he hid behind a tree, taking off his clothes. They were mostly suspicious, and most of them didn’t believe him either. Well, it wasn’t too unforeseen. It sounded ridiculous.

He changed into a wolf before he got out of hiding.

Expecting them to run away in fear, he was most surprised when his brothers approached him excitedly.

_ “How can you do that?!” _

_ “You must have super speed!” _

_ “Look at his eyes! They’re red! That’s super cool!” _

Sehun blinked his round eyes.

How stupid of him.

They were his brothers, his friends. Why did he ever think they would run away?

*****

**EARTH-17718: THE WAR**

For Chen, the days were passing by having fun with his friends. Doing everything together was what made it even more delightful. They were going to enjoy the hell out of this holiday for sure; that was the sole reason Chen had brought them all along to this holiday from the beginning!

They were watching the beautiful night sky as the stars sent them their most magnificent winks all that way from space.  _ Space… _

Chen turned his head to the huge dinner table, placed behind the seats they were sitting on at the moment. He had dim visions inside his mind play, memories of a crowded night on this very rooftop… these seats were filled with visitors…  _ visitors from space  _ .

He smiled, thinking:  _ “As if…” _

There was no way he was ever touching those pills ever again, for sure.

*****

**EARTH-X**

It was quiet after those travelers were gone. Baekhyun had no idea how they went away, or where they would ever go. As if he was blinded by one of his own light attacks, everything went white and when he woke up, there was no trace of them.

There wasn’t a way for them to meet ever again… nor did Baekhyun believe that they would prefer to, anyway. He wasn’t the perfect host to them, much as he regretted it now. But he still couldn’t help but keep a little expectation inside his heart for them to return. To feel their connection, their touch, their love again. To witness such a friendship… a bond so strong.

Perhaps, it was all just a dream, that his mind made up to rescue him from his constant obsession to meet with his lost members again.

His hand brushed the surface of the Tree of Life, feeling himself getting stronger through their connection.

Then, he proceeded to the cloning cabinets. Standing next to one of them, he looked at what the screen showed him:

_ “STORED DNA EXAMPLE – EXHIBIT #12 – D.O.” _

He passed to the next one, and the other. There were Lay’s and Xiumin’s as well.

Just as he had guessed, there was still a chance to reunite with his teammates!

Baekhyun turned to his teammates and spoke to them confidently: “We are bringing our friends back.” He smiled before pressing the button to start the process.

*****

**EARTH-88**

His arms hurt. A lot.

Once again he had found himself asleep right before his keyboard at the studio in their dorm. “Try not to make a habit out of this,” his leader Suho had always reminded him. Yixing was lucky that he hadn’t caught him yet. Stretching his arms in the air, the dream he had just woken up from flashed before his eyes.

“That was a wild ride…” He thought out loud when he heard Chanyeol out the door calling him that the dinner was ready. Getting up to eat a bit and grab a cup of coffee before returning to his work, he noticed a tear, almost a burnt hole passing through his jacket. “How did I even do this?” Not even a second later, he noticed the redness around his knuckles on his hands. “Yeah, I knew it wasn’t a good idea to just jump on learning to drum right now…”

He shook his head, noting on a corner inside his brain that he should probably write a song inspired by his dream someday…

*****

**EARTH ZERO**

The wind brought him back to his senses; instinctively, he shook his body. Scanning around his surroundings, a building he immediately remembered stood before him as the same sign welcomed him again.

Minseok placed the warm latte on his table, giving him a tender smile in which the younger one returned. Kai started to sip from his cup while his eyes lingered on the same man rushing back to his spot behind the counter. Suddenly, another familiar face entered the scene: Yixing walked to his husband, placing his arm around his shoulder from his side gently. He looked really energetic to Kai’s eyes, not anything like the first time he had seen him in this coffee shop previously.

“Can’t believe you guys are having a family moment without calling me,” a young guy cheerfully shouted, a little bit whiny also. Minseok and Yixing chuckled at their son’s antics, both opening their arms to hold him in their embrace.

Kai’s stare didn’t go past Minseok's eyes. He excused himself from his family before returning back to the younger one’s table, seating himself in front of him. Curiously, he listened to Kai’s question. “Why… no,  _ how  _ am I still here?”

The older one replied with a sincere laugh this time, caging his hand under his smaller one. “Kai… Your bravery didn’t go past beyond The Powers That Be.” His grin widened, revealing his pearl white teeth as he watched Kai’s face change into one of surprise. To Minseok, it wasn’t shocking to get a response like this, since TPTB helping others wasn’t something much common to hear. “They let me have my own happiness here too! You’ve saved the entire multiverse, Kai. Even they can’t deny that you deserved a gift.”

“What do you mean?”

“You see where we are right now?” Minseok pointed at their surroundings with both of his arms opened. Kai nodded; this was the fictional writing Earth, where everything was possible. “You will be given another storyline. One where you’ll get your well-deserved happiness.”

A blinding light started to flash right behind his brother; Kai immediately covered his eyes, trying to hold Minseok’s wrist before he lost him, but it was useless.

In just a matter of seconds, he managed to open his eyes again.

He found himself lying on the tall grass of the hill beyond their city of his home planet. His lips trembled in awe; this was the same place he had met with Suho for the first time... The first time he’d ever made  _ a friend  _ .

“Come on Kai!”

The young man turned around upon hearing his name being called. Suho was standing there again, with his wide smile beautifying his face even more. Kai missed seeing his features so unconcerned, so full of ease like this. It fit him a lot better indeed. The astonishing natural scenery stood behind his small figure as well, welcoming him back to his home planet again, to its version that Kai loved a lot more.

It had been some time since Kai felt so delighted, that it felt like a dream.

With full trust, he took his hand and got up. Suho leaned his head to his right shoulder, looking at him affectionately, as he whispered playfully:

“Let’s see where this road takes us, shall we?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There we go, with a happy ending!  
> Sue me, I'm a sucker for them. Our Earth is as depressing as it is already. :-)
> 
> I think it was always going to be a happy ending, right from my first thought to write a multiverse story. While it's some kind of cliché to "overcome all through the power of friendship", I still love it. And I can't believe I've managed to get off my lazy ass and finish this story in a month! The contest I've entered helped me a lot to get that motivation and I had to blow my brains out a lot (some of the times include: what to do with Chen's Earth; how to properly differentiate the same named different people - too many Kais, Suhos and D.O.s in one scene...; and that double battle scene in that final chapter) but I'm satisfied with how things got concluded. I hope you guys are too; I'd love to hear your opinions on it!!
> 
> Thank you all to those who commented, gave kudos and bookmarked to show their interest in this story!! Without you, I would not have find the strength to continue most likely! ><


End file.
